A 



TREATISE 



ON 



MILCH COWS, 

WHEREBY 

THE aUALITY AND QUANTITY OF MILK 

WHICH ANY COW WILL GIVE MAY BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED BY OBSERVING NATURAL 

MARKS OR EXTERNAL INDICATIONS ALONE; THE LENGTH OF TIME 

SHE WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE MILK, &c. 

By M. FRANCIS GUENON, 

OF LIBOURNE, FRANCE. 

TRANSLATED FOR THE FARMERS' LIBRARY, FROM THE FRENCH, 

By N. P. TRIST, ESQ. 

LATE UNITED STATES CONSUL AT HAVANA. 



WITH INTRODUCTORY 

REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS, 



ON THE 



COW AND THE DAIRY. 







Entered according to Act of Congrees, in the year 1846, 

BY GREELEY & McELRATH, 

In the Clerk's office of the Diatrict Court of the Southern Dfetrict of New-York. 



PREFACE 

BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 



Although that portion of the matter, here offered to American farmers, which was translated 
for and originally published in the Farmers' Library, might well be considered as worth the 
price of this volume, the Publishers have desired to render the work more acceptable and usefol, 
by the addition of brief Introductory Sketches, descriptive of various Races of Cattle, as well as 
of Dairy Management, and of some of the Diseases to which Cou-s and Calves are particularly 
liable. 

Most of these additions have been derived from Chambers's Information for the People; 
selected for the reason that, while they are deemed by the American Editor to be, generally, judi- 
cious and profound, the style is so plain and practical that " he who runs may read" and under- 
stand them. Remarks have been added by the Editor of the Farmers' Library, where it was 
supposed they might be needed to adapt the work more perfectly to the use of American 
readers. 

It has been truly observed that the most remarkable of all the changes and meliorations effected 
in cattle by the potent influence of domestication, the most marked improvement has been in the 
capacity of the Cow for giving milk. How much may not that capacity be enhanced now, by 
close attention to the milk-bearing signs or " escutcheons" so minutely described by M. Guenon ? 

By selecting for breeding stock, from generation to generation, such only as display these infal- 
lible indications, and condemning to the knife all that are devoid of them — supposing the system 
to be unerring as it has been pronounced by successive Committees appointed to investigate it — 
what is to prevent the establishment of a race as uniform and remarkable for excellence at the 
pail as the Devon Ox is for the yoke, or the courser of high-bred eastern extraction for the turf? 
and that, too, without recurrence to importation — seeing that, among our '■ country cows," individ- 
uals have been found equal, in yield of milk and butter, to any to be traced in the Herd-Book ? — 
Instance the Cream-pot Breed, built up by Col. Jacques, of Charlestown, Mass. whose calves are 
bespoken at $100 ; the celebrated middle-sized Oak's Cow, of Danvers, that gave, onftvidence sat 
iefactory to the Mass. Ag. Society, 484 pounds of butter from the 5th of April to the 25th of Sep 
tember ; and, more recently, the wonderful Prize Cow, Kaatskill, property of Mr. DonalsoN; 
of Blithewood, New- York, which received the prize of the New- York State Agricultural Society^ 
at Poughkeepsie, in 1844, on satisfactory evidence that she " yielded, when kept on grass only, 
38^ quarts of milk per day, and that, from the milk given by her in two days, 6 J pounds of butter 
were made — being at the rate of 22| pounds per week." 

When such cases turn up by chance, why, we repeat, may not a Breed of deep milkers be es- 
iablished and, relied upon as confidently as it is known that " like produces like" ? After all, 



PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



now that this discovery has been made, and proclaimed, on the ground of repeated trials and testi- 
mony, to all appearance conclusive, what is there in the theory that lactiferous secretions should 
produce and show themselves in external marks and cutaneous exudations, any more wonderful, 
or out of the way, than that other secretions and faculties are known to produce not only marked 
differences in form and color, but even perceptible, and, for the most part, offensive effluvia ? 

Observe the effect, in these respects, not only in the external differences of color and shape, 
which mark the different sexes, but the no less striking effects produced by early emasculation of 
the horse, the bull, the hog, and the goat ! Hence, it is only " if I were hungry," says the Psalm- 
ist, "I will eat the flesh oi bulls, and drink the blood of goats." 

The famous Tuscany Ox, so celebrated for strength, activity, and endurance, and which Com- 
modore Jones, in one of his letters addressed from the Mediterranean to Mr. Skinner, says will 
travel — miles a day, with heavy loads of ship timber, is, all over, of uniform light grey color; but 
leave him unabridged of his full sexual proportions, and the effect is sure to be exhibited in the 
black color and great enlargement of the neck, and curly fm-ehead. Is it, then, we repeat, extra- 
ordinary or incredible that the milky secretions of the Cow should produce, in the region where 
that process is carried on, ajid where her characteristic excellence lies, effects not more visible or 
striking than are produced on the size, color and growth of the hair, on the shoulders, neck and 
head of the bull ? Are the external signs— the difference in the growth and curl of the hair, con- 
stituting the " escutcheons," and the scurf or dandruf thrown out on the skin, as described in this 
book— anymore remarkable or strange in the one case than the other? But— "all things are 
strange" — until they are found out ! 
New-York, Marah, 1846. 



REMARKS. 

AND 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE COW 



THE DAIRY : 

INTRODUCTORY TO GUENON'S TREATISE 

ON MILCH COWS. 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 

Next to the horse, the COW is justly valued as the most useful animal which 
man has been able to domesticate and retain permanently in his service. The 
Ox tribe, of which it is the female, belongs to the order Ruminantia, in the class 
Mammalia ; these terms implying that the animals runimate or chew their food 
a second time, and have mamma or teats with which they suckle their young.— 
In the Ox tribe there are different genera and species, all more or less differmg 
from each other. , • n 

The Wild Breed, from being untamable, can only be kept within walls or good 
fences; consequently, very few of thein are now to be met with, except in the 
parks of some English gentlemen, who keep them for ornament and as a curiosity. 
Their color is invariably of a creamy white ; muzzle black ; the whole of the in- 
side of the ear, and about one-third of the outside from the tip downward, red ; 
horn white, with black tips very fine, and bent upward ; some of the Bulls have 
a thin upright mane, about four or five inches long. The weight of the Oxen is 
from 450 to 550 lbs. and the Cows from 280 to 450 lbs. The beef is finely mar- 
bled and of excellent flavor. 

Of the Domesticated Ox, the varieties from the effect of cultivation are now 
very numerous. The Ox, in one or other of its genera, and for the sake ot its la- 
bor as a beast of draught, its flesh, or the milk of its female, has been domesti- 
cated and carefully reared from the earliest times— in some countries having been 
raised to the rank of a divinity, or, at least, held as an object of extreme venera- 
tion, nil 

The domesticated species of Oxen is, in all its varieties, materially altered 
from its wild parentage. Influenced by climate, peculiar feeding, and training m 
a state of subjection, its bony structure is diminished in bulk and power, its fero- 
city tamed, and its tractabilitv greatly improved. Our observations will refer 
chiefly to the Cow, on which very great changes have been effected by domesti- 
cation : the most remarkable of these alterations has been in the capacity for giv- 
ing milk. In a wild state, the udder is small, and shrinks into an insignificant com- 
pass when the duty of suckling is over ; but when domesticated for the sake ot 
its milk, and that liquid is drawn copiously from it by artificial means, the lacte- 
al or milk-secreting vessels enlarge, and the udder expands, so as to become a 
prominent feature in the animal. la this maaner, by constant exercise, the econ- 



omy of the cultivated species of Cows has been permanently altered, and render- 
ed suitable to the demands which are constantly made on it. Yet it is important 
to remark that those milk-yieldmg powers are not equal in the ditlerent varieties 
or breeds of Cows, borne breeds, from the influence of circumstances <Tive a 
large quantity of milk, but of a thin or poor quality, while others vield less^milk 
but a good or rich quality. Whether, then, the cow-keeper wish quayitily or 
quality, is the question for him to solve in making a selection of stock In 4n- 
eral, near large towns, where the demand for milk is considerable, the obiect of 
dairymen is to keep Cows which will give a large quantity of milk, no matter of 
what sort. Private families m the country are usually more regardful of the 
quality of the article; they wish a little milk which is good, some fine cream 
and perhaps, also, some sweet butter and cheese; and on that account are more 
careful m the choice of their Cows. For those who go for mere quantity, and 
yet have some honest scruples left about resorting to the pump, the old fashioned 
large framed, big boned Holderness would do best ; while f^r cream oJy tx 
family use, no breed can compare, in color and richness of milk, with the ewe- 
necked, deer-looking, ragged-boned Alderney. This breed may be seen at Ros- 
well House, residence of Mr. Colt, Paterson! New-Jersey. The following is a 
list of breeds which may aid the selection of Cows in these different respects : 

BREEDS OF CATTLE. 

nf Tl^f ^'?k^'tj°^ uf "i^ ^^^"^t"" ^'fff ent districts, from the small hardy varieties 
of the north Highlands, to the bulky and handsome breeds of the southern parts 
of ±.ngland. It has been customary to classify iW whole according to the com- 
F-rn^ri'T ^T^ ""i the homs-as the Long-Homed, Short-Horned, Muldle-Horned 
Crumpled-Horned, and Hornless or Polled breeds. Besides these, there are manv 
intermixed breeds The Middle-Horned Cows, which are found in the norTh o^f 
Devon, the east of Sussex, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire, in En-land are 
among the most valuable and beautiful varieties of the animal 
J.l« ; ,f ""fu ^^- ^^^ ^''.eed, there are certain conformations which are indispensa- 
W f ?7'"^' ^^^"••^ble Ox or Cow. If there is one part of the fram^e the 
form of which, more than of any other, renders the animal valuable, it is the 

or .nffi • f K, ™f !• ^"^ r^"^ ^""""-^ ^""'^^^ h^^" to beat and the lungs to plav 
or sufficient blood for the purposes of nutriment and strength will no? be cS 
lated ; nor will it thoroughly undergo that vital change which is essential to the 
proper discharge of every function. We look, therefbre, first of all, "o the w de 

Inittl T^ '^'"' '^' ^f" ""^ ^"°^^- ^^ "^"^t h^^^ both : the p ropon on 
in which the one or the other may preponderate will depend on the service we ' 
require from the animal ; we can excuse a slight degree of flatness of Ihet^s \ 
for he will be hghter m the forehand, and more active; but the c^rL e' mus[ 
have vvidth as well as depth. And not only about the heart and lungs! but ove ' 

well^s t'h'^;^' ''t' T'' ^' ^'^^. ^"\^ ^'''Sth and roundness ; th? ko^pe/ll \ 
well as the deep barrel is essential ; there must be room for the capacious 

C"''.'V'?r,'°V^\r''"^^^ from which the blood is to be provided^ The 
beas should also be ribbed home ; there should be little space between the ribs 
and he hips. This seems to be indispensable in the Ox, as it regards a "-ood 
the iefh'^nf 'T" ":i'^ " P/opensity to fatten : but a largeness and droopLrg of 
the belly notwithstanding that the symmetry of the animal is not improved are 
considered a^dvantageous in the Cow, because" room is thus left for th e Sdd er and 
f these qualities are accompanied by swelling milk veins, her value in the da^rv 
HTlt^r'"''''^- ^^'' .>-oundness and'depth of the barrel Jiowever are 
SfnK^I ^"t°"l^",P/°P°'^"°'^ ^^^°""d behmd the point of the elbow i^ore \ 
than between the^shoulders and legs ; or low down between the le's, Xe'rThan 

of'Z coarT:r .ansTMr^ ' '" ^^ ^^7^"^!^ ^•^^°'^' ^^' ^^e coniparatTve hSk 
oi tne coarser parts of the animal, are thus dimin shed, which is alwavs a verv < 

great consideration. The loins should be wide. Of this there can be' o doubt 

for they are the pnme parts ; they should seem to extend far alon- the back -and 

although the belly should not hang down, the flanks should be r1>und and d^ep 

Of the hips It is superfluous to say that, without being rag-ed, thev should be ) 

large ; round rather than wide and presenting, when him died, plenty of muscle 

and fat. The thighs should be full and long, close together when viewed from \ 

behind, and the farther down they continue cbse the better! The ligTmay T 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



casionally vary ia length according to the destination of the animal ; but short- 
ness is a good general rule, for there is an almost inseparable connection between 
length of leg and lightness of carcass, and shortness of leg and propensity to fat- 
ten. The bones of the legs (and they are taken as a sample of the bony structure 
of the frame generally) should be small, but not too small — small enough for the 
well-known accompaniment, a propensity to fatten — small enough to please the 
consumer ; but not so small as to indicate delicacy of constitution and liability to 
disease. Lastly, the hide — the most important thing of all — should be thin, but 
not so thin as to indicate that the animal can endure no hardship ; movable, mel- 
low, but not too loose, and particularly well covered with fine and soft hair. 

Of the various breeds and cross-breeds of Cows now in use, there are a few 
which enjoy the best reputation. We may name, for example, the Old Yorkshire 
Stock, a cross between the Teeswater and Holderness breed ; the Long-Horned 
or Lancashire breed ; the Short-Horned or Dutch breed ; the Middle-Horiied 
breeds of Devonshire, Sussex, and Hereford ; the Ayrshire breed ; the Alderney 
breed, &c. Some of these merit particular attention. We should first point to 
the 

Devonshire Cow. — The Devonshire is a handsome breed of cattle, well set up- 
on their legs, straight along the back, small muzzle, generally red in color, and, 
both as Oxen and Cows, they feed well at an early age. The Cow is much 
smaller than the Bull, but roomy for breeding, and is distinguished for her clear, 
round eye, and general loveliness and neatness of features. Fed on the fine pas- 
tures of North Devon, the Cow yields a rich quality of milk, and in reasonable 




Devonshire Cow. 



abundance. The North Devon breed prevails in some parts of Somersetshire, 
and has been introduced into other quarters of the country, but is not considered 
suitable in situations greatly differing from its native county as respects climate 
and herbage. 

Incomparably the best herd of Devons in this, if not in any country, is the 
large one of George Patterson, Esq. near Sykesville, Md. Its excellence has 
been established and maintained by frequent importations of the best Bulls to be 
had in England, without limit as to cost, and by invariably good keep ! The 
signs of genuineness and of excellence in the Devon are the absence, as near as 
possible, of white in any part, and a yellow, not dark skin showing itself around 
the eye and muzzle. The winner of successive prizes for best cheeses at the 
American Institute lately observed that he considered the Devon decidedly the 
best breed of cattle for the general purposes of New-England ; while for his pur- 
pose exclusively, milk and cheese, he preferred a large infusion of Short-Horn 
blood. 

Herefordshire Cow. — The Hereford breed of cattle is larger than that of 
North Devon. It is broad across the hind quarters, narrow at the sirloin ; neck 
and head well proportioned ; horns of a medium size, turned up at the points ; 
color deep red, but with face and some other parts generally white ; and counte- 
nance cheerful and sagacious. This Cow is reckoned among the best in England 
as respects the production of milk, and, when too old for that purpose, it fattens 
to a greater weight than the North Devons. The Herefords have maintained a 
long and animated contest for superiority with the Short-Horns in England, and 
the Editor thinks (but mind, he can't be made to enter into a contest about it) it 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: 




Hereford Cow. 

is rather gaining ground on its great rival. Has the latter any links yet to let 
out ? 

The Galloway breed of cattle is well known for various valuable qualities, 
and easily distinguished by the want of horns. It is broad across the back, with 
a very slight curve between the head and quarters, broad at the loins, the whole 
body having a fine round appearance. The head is of a moderate size, with large 
rough ears, chest deep, legs short, and clean in the neck. The prevailing color 
is black, those of this color being thought the most hardy, although this varies. 
This breed is highly esteemed, as there is no other kind which arrives at maturi- 
ty so soon, and their flesh is of the finest quality. The milk is very fine, but is 
not obtained in very large quantities. Great numbers of this breed are sent an- 
nually to Smithfield market ; and it is remarkable that they are generally in as 
good condition after the journey as before. The Suffolk Dun, also a hornless 
breed, is supposed to be a variety of the Galloway, from their general resem- 
blance. 

The Ayrshire breed, wJiich is considered the most valuable in Scotland, is of 
the small sized and middle horned race ; its origin is unknown, as it has been 
long settled in the county from which it derives its name. In modern times, the 




Ayrshire BulL 

breed has been improved by judicious selection, coupling, and general treatment. 
The common characteristics of this excellent variety of Cows are thus described 
by Mr. Aiton in his " Survey of Ayrshire:" — " Head small, rather long and nar- 
row at the muzzle ; eye small, smart, and lively ; horns small, crooked, and set 
at considerable distances from each other ; neck long, rather slender, tapering 
toward the head, with no loose skin below ; shoulders thin ; fore quarters light ; 
hind quarters large ; back straight, broad behind, the joints rather loose and open ; 
carcass deep ; legs small, short, with firm joints ; udder capacious, stretching for- 
ward ; the milk veins large and prominent ; teats short, all pointing outward." 
The Ayrshire Cow is very docile, feeds well, is easily managed, and, as a dairy 
Cow, is equal to any other. It is inferior, however, for feeding, to the Devon, 
Sussex, and Hereford breeds. There have been several importations of Ayrshires 
— one some dozen years ago by A. J. Davie, of N. C. These we saw in Balti- 
more, as we have several other specimens there, and elsewhere. These were se- 
lected by Mr. D. in Scotland, and from their appearance, were, as we have 
thought, among the best specimens that have been brought to this «ountry. — 
John Ridgely, Esq. of Hampton got this lot, and may, perhaps, nave some oi" their 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



9 



descendants now. Dr. Hoffman more recently made an importation of choice in- 
dividuals of this breed to Baltimore. Mr. Randall, of New-Bedford, Mass., has, 
perhaps, the largest herd of Ayrshires in this country. Several were imported 
into Massachusetts some years since, and our impression had been that they fail- 
ed to establish themselves in the estimation of Yankee Farmers, yet the Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural Society lately invested a large portion of their funds in an 
importation of Ayrshires and North Devons, of which an account may be seen in 
the Farmers'Library AND Journal of Agriculture, November No. page 257 of 
the Journal. The specimens we have seen of Ayrshires appeared to be on the 
model, and with a good deal of the coat of the Short-Horn ; the hair perhaps short- 
er, and in that, enabling them the better to hear wet weather. But they have the 
neat form of the Short-Horn only on a miniature scale when compared to them. 
Mr. Stevenson, our late Minister to London, who passed all his leisure time 
among the noblemen and gentlemen Farmers in the best agricultural districts of 
England and Scotland, has some superior specimens of Ayrshires. 




Ayrshire Cow. 

Many of the Ayrshire Dairy Cows, when properly fed, will yield from six to 
eight gallons per day during a part of the summer. The quantity varies much 
during the year, from one and a half to six gallons or more ; and the highest av- 
erage of the milk yielded by this breed is one thousand gallons per annum. It is 
only some of the hnest Cows that will yield such a quantity as this, and from five 
hundred to seven hundred and fifty gallons may be calculated as the most gene- 
ral yearly produce. Every two and one-third gallons of milk will afford one pound 
of butter, of sixteen ounces to the pound, or eight gallons will give three pounds. 
About twenty-six gallons of milk will give a stone of cheese, fourteen pounds to 
the stone, and a good milch Cow will thus yield thirty-six stones annually, which, 
at 10s. per stone, is £18 per annum for this article alone. 

The Short-Horned or Dutch breed is considered of great value, both for milk- 
ing and feeding. There are many varieties of it, known by the names of the 
counties where they have been raised. The best of these varieties are large in 
the carcass, well proportioned, broad across the loins, chine full, legs short, head 
small but handsome, neck deep, but in keeping with the size of the body, color 
generally red and white mixed, or what is called flecked, hide thin. The flesh 
of this breed is thick, close-grained, retaining the juices well ; and from this cir- 
cumstance is in request for victualing ships going on long voyages. 

Regarding the milking qualities of this breed, Mr. Dickson, an emment cattle- 
dealer, who has had the most extensive experience throughout the whole coun- 
try, says — " It has been frequently asserted that the Short-Horned Cows are bad 
milkers ; indeed, that no sort of cattle are so deficient in milk. But this deficien- 
cy of milk does not proceed from the circumstance of the Cows being of the Short- 
Horned kind. Had the flesh been neglected as much as the milk by the eminent 
breeders, and the property of giving milk as much cherished as the development 
of flesh, the Short-Horned Cows would have been deep milkers. Indeed, it is not 
to be doubted that, where the general secreting powers of the animal system have 
been increased, th* power of secreting milk will be increased with the power of 
secreting fat ; all that seems requisite is to encourage the power of that secretion 
which is most wanted for the time. It would be to desire an impossibility to de- 
sire the full development of flesh, fat, and milk, at the same time ; but there is 
no absurdity in desiring a large secretion of flesh and fat at one time, and a large 



10 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: 



secretion of milk at another, from the same Cow. Accordingly, this is the very 
character which has been acquired by Short-Horned Cows, They will yield from 
six to sixteen quarts a day throughout the season ; and they are such constant 
milkers, that they seldom remain dry above six weeks or two months before the 
the time of calving. 1 know a Scotch breeder who had a Short-Horned Cow which 
gave fifteen quarts a day during the flush of the grass in summer, and never went 
dry for two seasons. A cross between a Galloway Cow and a Short-Horned Bull 
in Berwickshire yielded twenty pints [twenty "pints" here probably mean 
Scoic^ pints, equal to English quarts] a day during the best of the season, and she 
had to be milked five times a day to keep her easy." We have thus considered 
it our duty to give the opinion of Mr. Dickson regarding the value of the Short- 
Horned breed of Cows as a dairy stock, seeing that the demand for Short-Horned 
Bulls has of late years been great in many of the counties of both England and 
Scotland. It seems, however, a well-confirmed opinion that the breed which of 
all others appears to be gaining ground, throughout the United Kingdom, for 
abundant produce on ordinary pasture, is the Ayrshire kyloe, which is described 
as without a parallel under a similar soil, climate, and relative circumstances, 
either for the dairy, or feeding for the shambles. But the ever variable circum- 
stances in climate, soil, shelter, and the quality and quantity of the pasturage, as 
well as the winter feeding and general treatment, will always have an effect up- 
on the stock. 

Mr. George Law, of Baltimore, has an imported Irish Short-Horn Cow, Sophy, 
sent to this country by Mr. Murdoch, (now of N. C. near Asheville, a gentleman 
farmer of superior judgment and various intelligence,) which gave last summer, 
when well fed and in full milk, 38 quarts, or one bushel of milk, a day. Her " es- 
cutcheons" or signs correspond with those laid down in the work of M. Guenon, 
here in hand transferred from the Farmers' Library. 

In proof of our suggestion, that with the aid and close observance of the direc- 
tions given in that work, a mz/^-race of the greatest excellence may be establish- 
ed on the basis of our country stock, we need only mention first the success of 
Col. JACQtJES in the formation of his ''cream-pot" breed. His calves of that 
blood are bespoken at |100— also the case of the Cow called " the Oaks Cow," 
which was of what is called the Country breed, and rather under size. It is not 
to be doubted, that if this great discovery in kine-olo^y had been made, she would 
have been found to display the " escutcheons," in full relief, and lastly to show, 
that for milking purposes, we need not go abroad, unless, as we go for foreign 
voters, for increase of numbers. We may refer to Mr. Donaldson's famous Cow, 
Kaatskill, of which a fine portrait is given in the Cultivator, with the following 
account:—" ' Kaatskill' received the first prize of the New-York State Agricul- 
tural Society as the best Dairy Cow exhibited at Poughkeepsie, in 1844. We 
are unable to refer to the original statement furnished the Society by Mr. Don- 
aldson in regard to the 'produce of this Cow, but can say that satisfactory evi- 
dence was given that she had yielded, when kept on grass only, thirty-eight and 
a half quarts of milk per day, and that from the milk given by her in two days, 
six and a half pounds of butter were made, being at the rate of twenty-two and 
three-fourths pounds per week. Her appearance fully corresponds with the ac- 
count of her produce. It is proper to state, that while her milk was measured 
for the purpose of accurately ascertaining the quantity, she was milked four times 
every twenty-four hours." Kaatskill is represented as a " native," which we sup- 
pose means what is commonly called "country breed." 

The Improved Kerry is an Irish breed, of rather diminutive size, hardy, and 
which can subsist on scanty pasture. This renders them exceedingly well adapt- 
ed for hilly pastures, and for cottagers who may not have the best food to offer 
their stock. Their milk and butter are rich in quality, and for their size they are 
good milkers. They are quiet enough when let alone ; but, if the least irritated, 
no fence can contain them. The Irish Cows have improved very much of late 
years, in consequence of crossing ; and they are now, in many respects, thought 
equal to the breeds of either England or Scotland. 

The LoNG-HoRNED or Lancashire is distinguished by the length of its horns, 
the thickness of its hide, and the large size of its hoofs. It is far from being a 
handsome animal, nor is it held in very general estimation either for milkino- or 
feeding. ° 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



11 



Highland Breeds. — The cattle of the Highlands of Scotland are of small bulk 
and very hardy. The most esteemed are those belonging to the Western High- 
lands and Isles, called the Argyleshire breed, and frequently kyloes. It is thought 
that this breed might be much improved by judicious crossing, as was seen in the 
case of the Ayrshire kyloe, formerly mentioned. This breed is rather handsome 
in appearance ; the horns are long and upright, head large, neck short and deep, 
legs of a good length, and the beef is in general estimation. The cattle of the 
Highlands and Isles are bred on an extensive scale of farming for the purpose of 
sending to the southern markets. Small in size at first, they increase in bulk as 
they are transferred to a more genial climate and richer pasturage as they pro- 
ceed southward, till, by annual stages, they reach the neighborhood of London, 
when they are large and heavy. The breeds may, therefore, be considered more 
an object of culture for the shambles than the dairy. 

The Alderney breed of cattle is awkwardly shaped, with short, bent horns, 
and light red, dun, or fawn-colored skins. The appetite of the Cow is voracious, 
and it yields little milk, but that is of an exceedingly rich quality, and the ani- 
mal is on that account preferred by families who do not regard the expense of 
keep. 

We once knew an honest dairy-woman maintain that the milk of one Alder- 
ney Cow would color the butter from the milk of seven common Cows, mixed 
with hers. The Alderney Bull is vicious and intractable, but nothing can equal 
the beautiful color and richness of the milk and cream from the Alderney Cow. 
Noblemen in England, some of them rich enough to give a guinea for a tea-spoon- 
ful of cream for their coffee, keep an Alderney in their magnificent parks, espe- 
cially for the means of improving that delicious beverage — especially when made 
oi old Mocha — such as was offered, and by her own fair hands administered to 
her friends by a lady of this City on New- Year's day, in lieu of hebetating egg- 
nog, and other inebriating liquors or liqueurs. 

In adverting briefly to the properties of cattle, it will be advisable to de- 
scribe the points by which they are characterized : 




1. The nose or mnzzle.~ln the Devon, Hereford, and Sussex, the muzzle is preferred when of 

a clear golden color. When brown or dark, it is an indication that this breed has been 
crossed with some of the Welsh oj- other breeds. 

2. The forehead should neither be naiTow nor very broad— the eye prominent. The nostril be- 

tween the eye and muzzle should be thin, which is particularly the case in the best breeds 
of the Devon cattle. 

3. The horns should be thin, projecting >iorizontally from the head, and turning up at the tips as 

m the breeds of the Devon, Sussex, and Hereford. 

4. The -neck should be neither long nor short, full at the sides and not too deep in the throat, com- 

mg out from the shoulders nearly level with the chine, with a thin dewlap. 

5. Tne top of the plnle bonen should not be too wide, but rising upon a level with the chine and 

well thrown back, so that there may be no hollovmess behind ; this point gives facility to 
the walk. From the point of the shoulder to the top of the plate bones should be rather full 
outside, to admit the ribs to bow. 

6. The xhoulder pmnt should lay fiat with the ribs witliout any projection. When the shoulder 
T-iP^z'"' P^J*^^'^ outward, the beast seldom fattens well about the shoulder vein. 

7. Jhe breast should be wide and open, projecting foi-ward. 

8. The chine should lie straight, and well covered with flesh. 



9. The loin should be flat and wide — the side lying parallel, and nearly as high as tlie chine — 
almost as wide at the fore as at the hinder part; being an indication of the ribs bowing out, 
which is desirable. 

10. The hip or huckle hones should be wide apart, coming upon a level with the chine, to the 

first touch or setting on of the tail. 

11. The first touch or tip of tfi£ nimp should be tolerably wide, so that the tail drop in a level 

between the two points. The tail should come out broad, as an indication of a flat chine. 

12. The thigh should not be too full outside nor behind, which is always an indication of bully 

flesh, but the inside or twist should be full. 

13. The hock or hough should be flat and rather thin, not coarse and gummy, which indicates 

coarseness in the animal. 

14. The hind leg should be flat and thin. The legs of a medium length, and the hock or hough 

rather turning out. 

15. 7%e feet or claws not too broad. 

16. The flank should be full and heavy when the animal is fat, indicative of being fat inside. 

17. The belly should not drop below the breast, but in a horizontal line with it. 

18. The brisket. 

19. The shoulder should be rather flat, not projecting. 

20. The foreleg should be also flat and upright, but not fleshy. 

21. The round or pot-hone should not project, but lie flat with the outside of tlie thigh. 

22. The under jaw. — The jaws should be rather wide, particularly for beasts intended for ■work- 

ing, as it affords them greater liberty to breathe. 

23. The chap should be fine, indicating a disposition to feed. 

24. The ribs should spring nearly horizontally from the chine, the sides round forming a circle ; 

in which case the animal will never drop in the belly, and will lay its meat on the prime 
parts. The great objection to the Sussex breed of cattle is that they are too sharp in the 
chine, and the ribs too flat. When this is the case, the animal will always drop in the 
belly, and seldom lay its meat on the prime joints. 

Remarks on Breeds. 

We have thus briefly treated of some of the many breeds of cattle considered val- 
uable as dairy stock in Britain ; but we pretend not to give any decided opinion as 
to w^hich is best. The merits of each kind have been vigorously contested by their 
respective advocates, and it would be extremely difficult to decide between them. 
Upon the form and qualifications of a perfect Cow, it ought to be observed, that 
whatever breed is selected, there is a wide difference between the form of one 
meant for fattening and that intended for the dairy. The first should resemble 
the Ox as nearly as possible ; while the latter should be long and thin on the 
head, with a brisk, quiet eye, lank in the neck, narrow across the shoulders, but 
broad at the haunches ; and there should be no tendency to become fat. The ud- 
der should be large and full looking, but not protruding too far behind ; the teats 
all pointing out and downward, equal in size and rather long and tapering ; all 
corresponding with the signs or escutcheons as given in this book. A Cow with 
a high back-bone, large head, small udder, and showing an inclination to become 
fat, will be found to be a bad milker. This description applies to all breeds ; and 
of course the diflference between a Cow for fattening and one for yielding milk 
will be comparative. 

Mr. Aiton mentions the following as the most important qualities of the Dairy 
Cow : — " Tameness and docility of temper greatly enhance its value. One that 
is quiet and contented feeds at ease, does not break over fences, or hurt herself 
or other cattle, will always yield more milk than than those who are of a turbu- 
lent disposition. To render them docile, they ought to be gently treated, fre- 
quently handled when young, and never struck or frightened. Some degree of 
hardiness, however, a sound constitution, and a moderate degree of life and spir- 
its, are qualities to be wished for in a milch Cow, and what those of Ayrshire 
generally possess. Some have thought that a Cow living on a small quantity of 
food was a valuable quality, but that will depend upon the quantity of milk giv- 
en by the Cow that eats little compared with those that eat much. If the Cow 
that eats little gives as much milk as the one that eats more, it certainly is a val- 
uable quality ; but of this I entertain doubts, which forty years' experience and 
observation have served to confirm. Speculative writers affirm that some Cows 
' will fatten as well, and yield as much milk, when fed on coarse as others will do 
I on rich food. Cows that have been reared and fed on coarse pasture will yield 
I some milk of a good quality, and from which the best butter may be extracted ; 
[ while a Cow that has been reared and fed on much better pasture, would, if turn- 
. ed on that which is bad, give scarcely any milk. With persons living in towns 
I and villages, and keeping but a single Cow, with opportunity of grazing on the 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



13 



commons, and depending mainly on them for food, a good rule is to get their Cow, 
not over the middle size ; and from a poorer district of country. If she comes 
from rich, fertile pastures, she will fall off in her milk, below the quantity which 
he was assured she had been accustomed to give, and thus disappoint him. If 
from a poorer district, with the addition of the " slop" from the house and kitch- | 
en, and the external signs here laid doivn, she will be sure to improve. But if a ( 
Cow that has been accustomed to feed on bad pasture, be put on that which is ( 
better, she will jrreatly increase in milk, and fatten much faster. If two Cows | 
of the same age ajd condition, and which have been reared and fed on food of , 
equal quality, are put, the one on bad food, and the other on that which is good, i 
the latter will yield four times the milk, and fatten four times faster than the for- 
mer. A Cow need not always be fed on green clover, cabbages, and cauliflower ; 
but she will neither fatten nor yield milk if she gets no better fare than rushes, 
bent, and sage grass." 

A writer in the " Farmer's Magazine," a few years ago, presented the follow- 
ing doggrel lines, as combining what are popularly considered the good pomts of 
a Cow, such as is common among the Short-Horned breed of Yorkshire : — 

•' She 's long in her face, she's fine in her horn, 
She '11 quickly get fat without cake or corn ; 
She 's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine. 
She 's heavy iu flank, and wide in her loin. 

She 's broad in her ribs, and long in her nimp, 
A straight and flat back, without e 'er a hump ; 
She 's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes. 
She 's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs. 

She 's light in her neck, and small in her tail. 
She 's wide in her breast, and good at the pail, 
She's fine m her bone, and silky of skin — 
She 's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within. " 

To ensure the perpetuation of valuable qualities in Cows, it is necessary to 
breed from good Bulls of a similar variety to the Cows. The heifer or young 
Cow, if properly pastured, should begin to breed at two years, or not beyond two 
and a half years old. The Cow is at her prime at from four to six years, and de- 
clines into old age at ten or eleven years, when it is customary to fatten her for 
market. Dairymen, in selecting Cows, prefer those which have had their third 
or fourth calf when they have attained their fifth or sixth year. The Bull is in 
his prime at three years, and should not be used after eight or nine years old. 

GENERAL MANAGEMENT OP COWS. 
Calvirig. 

The Cow goes with young nine calendar months, or 270 days but this length 
of time is liable to variation, from the effect of circumstances. A calf is most 
likely to survive and be healthy which has gone exactly the nine months. Cows 
come into season at different periods of the year, in which state they remain for 
a few days, after which the affection ceases, but it afterward returns in three or 
four weeks. The farmer watches these periods, and permits the company of the 
Bull at such a lime as will produce the young at a time of the year when grass 
is plentiful for the nourishment of the mother. This should be an advanced pe- 
riod of Spring, for the Cow will require nourishing diet some time before she 
drops her calf as well as afterward. 

A Cow may be kept in milk up to the time of her calving, by daily taking a 
quantity from her ; but this is most injurious to the fostus, [that depends on the 
external signs — see the Co7v Book .'] and the excitement of the new upon the old 
milk is apt to produce local inflammation. In towns, where dairymen care no- 
thing for the calf, and must have milk at all risks, Cows are often maltreated by 
being milked to the last ; but no one who conducts a dairy on proper principles 
will be guilty of this inhumanity. The best plan is to allow the Cow to go grad- 
ually dry, and not milk her at all for six or eight weeks before calving. This 
will keep her in a reasonably good condition, and save extra food, which it is not 
advantageous to give on a luxuriant scale, because high feeding at this period 
may induce inflammation and fever at calving. 

No animal is so liable to abortion as the Cow ; it takes place at uncertain pe- 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



riods during the pregnancy : sometimes it occurs from fright, teazing by other 
cattle in the field, or over-high condition : hut also not unfrequently from some 
bad habit acquired by the animal. It has been found that the habit is infectious ; 
and when once it has got among a parcel of Cows, it can be banished only with 
the greatest difficulty." In all cases the aborted foetus should be buried deep and 
far from the Cow pasture ; the Cow physiced, and its parts washed with chlo- 
ride of lime ; the Cow-house thoroughly lime-washed and otherwise purified ; 
and lastly, the Cow fattened and sent to market. 

If in a state of health, no difficulty will occur at the parturition : but should 
the case be otherwise, we prefer leaving the Cow-keeper to ask assistance from 
a person of practical skill, or veterinary surgeon, than to ofi'er any speculative ad- 
vices on the subject. With respect to the treatment after calving, we beg to 
quote the following directions from the volume on Cattle, " Library of Useful 
Knowledge:" — " Parturition having been accomplished, the Cow should be left 
quietly with the calf; the licking and cleaning of which, and the eating of the 
placenta, if it is soon discharged, will employ and amuse her. It is a cruel thing 
to separate the mother from the young so soon ; the Cow will pine, and will be 
deprived of that medicine which Nature designed for her in the moisture which 
hangs about the calf, and even in the placenta itself: and the calf will lose that 
gende friction and motion which help to give it the immediate use of all its 
limbs, and which, in the language of Mr. Berry, ' increases the languid circula- 
tion of the blood, and produces a genial warmth in the half-exhausted and chil- 
led little animal.' A warm mash should be put before her, and warm gruel, or 
water from which some of the coldness has been taken oflT. Two or three hours 
afterward, it Avill be prudent to give an aperient drink, consisting of a pound of 
Epsom salts and two drachms of ginger. This may tend to prevent milk fever 
and garget in the udder. Attention should likewise be paid to the state of the 
udder. If the teats are sore, and the bag generally hard and tender, she should 
be gently but carefully milked three or four times every da\\ The natural and 
the effectual preventive of this, however, is to let the calf suck her at least three 
times in the day, if it is tied up in the Cow-house, or to run with her in the pas- 
ture, and take the teat when it pleases. The tendency to inflammation of the ud- 
der is much diminished by the calf frequently sucking ; or should the Coav be fe- 
verish, nothing soothes or quiets her so much as the presence of the little one." 

The Calf. 

The Calf, when first dropped, is generally cleansed by the tongue of its dam 
from the slimy matter which always adheres to the skin of the animal. Some- 
times it happens that the Cow will not at first recognize her offspring ; but upon 
a small quantity of salt being strown over it, to which all neat cattle are particu- 
larly partial, she commences the motherly duties by licking the skin. The first 
milk appears to be calculated to nourish the Calf, which it should be allowed to 
suck plentifully before the Cow is milked. It is the practice with some, as soon 
as the Calf has sucked as much as it pleases, to milk the remainder so as to 
cleanly drain the udder, and give it to the Cow as nourishment. 

The treatment of Calves in rearing varies materially in different counties, and 
even in districts. In Sussex, England, the Calf is by many not allowed to take 
all the milk of the Cow, but is shut up from her in the morning and evening, and 
a small quantity of bran or ground oats given in a trough, and not suffered to suck 
till the maid comes to milking, when she milks two speens, while the Calf sucks 
the other two ; after which, when the girl has got all the milk she can, the Calf 
is left with the Cow a short time, to draw the udder as clean as possible ; and if 
there be any lumps occasioned by the pores being stopped, through which the 
milk flows to the speens, the Calf, by sucking, will disperse them better than by 
any other means. Cows are frequently injured in their milk by not having their 
udders thoroughly cleansed for the first fortnight or three weeks after calving. — 
When the Calf is about a month old, it is suffered to run with the Cow in the 
day, and kept from her in the night. A portion of the milk is taken from the 
Cow, and the remainder is left for the Calf, which is again permitted to remain 
with her during the day : this practice is followed by some till the Calf is weaned. 
Some let the Calves go with the Cows when three or four weeks old, at which 
time the Cow has not a greater supply than sufficient for the Calf alone ; after 



which it is allowed to rnn with the Cow till about lAvelve weeks, when it is 
weaned, and put in a confined place out of sight and hearing, to prevent the Cow 
being made uneasy from hearing her Calf The Calf is then fed on cut grass, 
clover, or other green food, with hay and bran, till such time as it forgets its 
dam. It should then be turned out upon good pasture ; for, unless the Calf be 
well fed at an early age, it will become stinted in its growth, and, when arrived 
at maturity, will not fatten so readily as if proper attention had been paid to it 
while young. 

In many dairy districts, it has been found desirable to deprive the Calf of the 
greater portion of milk : which has been accomplished by its being taught to 
drink skimmed milk in a lukewarm state, by the following means: — When the 
animal has fasted two or three hours, the first and second fuigers of the right hand 
are presented to its mouth ; of these it readily lakes hold, sucking ver)' eagerly ; 
in the mean time, a vessel of lukewarm milk is placed and supported bv the left 
hand under the Calf's mouth : and, while it is sucking, the right hand is gradu- 
ally sunk a little way into the milk, so that it may draw in a sufficient quantity 
without stopping the nostrils. Should, however, either from accident or from too 
sudden precipitation of the hand into the milk, the Calf let go its hold, the at- 
tempt must be repeatedly renewed till crowned with success. For the space of 
three or four weeks, they are usually fed with lukewarm milk and water. A 
small quantity of hay, ground oats or bran, and sometimes oil-cake, is then placed 
within their reach, which induces them to eat. Toward the end of Mav they 
arc turned out to grass, being taken in for a few nights. Avhen thev have tepid 
milk and water given them ; which is usually continued, though graduallv, in 
smaller proportions during the last month, till they are able to feed themselves, 
when they totally disregard it. It is then advisable to turn them into pastures 
where the grass is short and sweet. 

Many attempts have been made to rear Calves by artificial means, which by 
some is said to have answered very well, where the animal has been confined 
and shut up in the dark ; this practice has been proved to be injurious, and espe- 
cially if the Calves are intended for stock. We certainly have no practice which 
can answer so well as that where the laws of Nature are strictly attended to, 
and the Calf is supplied with nourishment such as Mature dictates. 

The greatest attention in fattening Calves should be paid to cleanliness, with- 
out which neither will the Calf fatten quickly, nor when fat be of good color ; 
much risk will also follow'iu losina: the Calf from fever, or from scouring. Chalk 
should be always before them to lick, to counteract the acidity always foimd in 
great abundance in the stomach of the Calf when feeding on milk. 

It is advisable in fattening Calves to keep them quiet, and to allow them to 
suck the Cow nisrht and morning, taking the last of the milk, which is considered 
to be the most rich and nourishing. By this treatment the Calf will gradually 
become sufficientlv fat in seven or eight weeks ; and, when so, it is no advantage 
to keep it a day longer — as small veal, if fat, is preferable to large. 

It is by some a practice to bleed Calves weekly, after they are four or five 
weeks old, and always a short time before they are killed — by which course the 
veal is rendered whiter. 

As castrating Calves is an operation which ought not to be performed but by 
skillful practitioners, we shall refrain from giving any directions — recommending 
the operation to be performed at the age of eight or ten weeks, as at that age the 
danger is considerably lessened. The animals should be kept quiet and warm 
after the operation ; and if, on the following day, the scrotum should be much 
swollen and inflamed, the wound may be opened, and the coagulated blood re- 
moved. 

Whether calves are kept for veal or for stock, they are begun to be fed in the 
same manner, by sucking milk from a dish. As they naturally seek for the teat 
when their nose is put to the dish, the fin::ers of the attendant may be put into 
their mouth when in the milk, and this will set them going in the art of artifi- 
cial sucking. " The milk " (says the author of " Clerical Economics,") " should 
be given to them sparingly at first, to render their appetite m.ore keen, and pre- 
vent them from loathing at their food. For the first two weeks they should be 
fed on the milk first drawn from the Cow, locally termed the forebroads, which 
abounds with serum ; and as they grow up, the quantity of milk is gradually in^ 



creased to as much as the calves can be made to drink. After the first two or 
three weeks, by all means give them plenty of milk, warm from their mother; 
and let it be that which is last drawn from the Cow, locally termed aflerings, 
which are much richer. Keep abundance of dry litter under them. Have them 
in a place that is well aired, and of a uniform temperature, neither too hot nor too 
cold ; let the apartment be quite dark, excepting when the door is opened to give 
them food. If they enjoy the light, they become too sportive, and will not fatten. 
Take care that they are fastened to the wall, in such a way, by " swivels," that 
they cannot hang themselves. Never let them make their escape at the door, or, 
by their running and jumping, they will do more injury to themselves in three 
minutes than a week's feeding will make up. Don't keep them till they become 
too old, because, when they begin to grow to the bone, they require more milk 
than the manse can generally produce ; and whenever they cease to advance in 
the fattening process, tliey begin to recede, and the milk for a week or two is lost. 
They should be kept from four to seven weeks, according as milk may be abund- 
ant and rich. If a calf be kept long, during the last two or three weeks, it will 
require the richest part of the milk of at least two or three Cows to bring it to 
the highest pitch of fatness. When the milk begins to fall short of the calfs ap- 
petite, some mix eggs and others peas-meal into their food ; others try infusions 
of hay, oil-cake, and linseed ; but none of these additions are approved of by those 
who feed calves to the greatest perfection. Meal is understood to darken the 
flesh, web, and lights of the animal ; but sago has of late years been almost, from 
the first two or three weeks, boiled and mixed in its liquid state with the milk, 
and to great advantage. Begin with a saucerful of it or so, and gradually in- 
crease the quantity. Calves are very fond of chalk, and they also feel the want 
of salt. 

Cow-House — Cleaning. 

The Cow-house should be airy, and well ventilated ; of moderate temperature, 
and kept very clean. The stalls for the Cows should be paved with smooth 
stones, slope gently toward the foot, where there should be a clear run of a gut- 
ter to carry ofF the urine to a pit outside. The stalls must be daily scraped and 
swept, and all refuse carried out to the dung-heap. In general, far too little litter 
is allowed. The Cow should have plenty of straw bedding, kept in a cleanly con- 
dition ; and this, when soiled, is to be mixed with the dung for manure. The 
only fastening for the Cow should be a chain to go round the neck, with the oth- 
er end round an upright post, but easily movable up and down, and allowing 
room for the animal shifting its position. The feeding manger or stone trough is 
on the ground, and ought to be kept free of all impurities ; for though the Cow 
is not so nice as the horse, it has a disinclination for food not fresh and cleanly. 

Except in dairies of a high order, it is customary to keep Cows in a shamefully 
unclean condition. The floor of their habitation is filthy, the walls ragged and 
full of vermin, and the hides of the animals dusty or barkened with dirt. Per- 
sons who keep Cows are not aware of the loss they incur from allowing them to 
live in this uncleanly state. Some people seem to think that they do quite 
enough for their Cows if they give them food and shelter ; but besides this, they 
require to be kept very cleanly, though seldom indulged in that luxury. The Cow 
should be curried daily like the Horse ; its hide should be freed from all impuri- 
ties, and relieved from every thing that causes uneasiness. When you see a Cow 
rubbing itself against a post, you may depend on it that the animal is ill kept, 
and requires a good scrubbing. Irritation of the skin from impurities also causes 
them to lick themselves, a habit which is injurious, for the hairs taken into the 
stomach form a compact round mass, which may destroy the animal. If well 
curried, any danger from this catastrophe is avoided, the health is generally im- 
proved, and this improves the quality of the milk, besides increasing the quan- 
tity. A cottager might easily make two or three shillings more of his Cow 
weekly by attention to this point ; and if he at the same time took pains to pre- 
serve all the liquid refuse of the cow-house, he might double that amount. How 
strange to reflect that many decent and well-meaning, but ignorant and rather 
lazily-disposed people, are suffering a loss of four or five shillings weekly from 
no other cause than this ! It is long, however, before old habits are eradicated, 
and new and better ones introduced. 



Feeding. 

The Cow requires to be supplied with an abundance of food, not to make her 
fat, which is not desirable, but to keep up a regular secretion of milk in the sys- 
tem. The feeding must be regular, from early morning to night, and pure wate) 
must also be otTered at proper intervals, if the Cow has not the liberty of going 
to the water herself 

Regarding the nature of the food of Cows, although soilmg, or artificial feed- 
ing in the house, is at all times economical, there can be no doubt that the best 
milk and butter are produced by Cows fed on natural pasture ; and, although the 
quantity of milk is not so great, yet the butter has a sweet taste, never to be dis- 
covered in the produce of soiled Cows. It was formerly the case in Scotland, 
and the practice is still continued in some parts, to put the Cows out to grass in 
sprmg in such an emaciated state that a considerable part of the best season was 
gone before they yielded the quantity of milk they would otherwise have done. 
On well-enclosed farms, it is the custom of many to keep their Cows out both 
night and day, from May till the end of October, so long as a full bite can be ob- 
tained ; and some bring them into the house twice a day to be milked. Soiling, 
or feeding entirely in the house or court-yard, is but seldom practiced, except by 
some farmers in arable districts. Although complete soiling is only occasionally 
resorted to, yet a considerable quantity of rich green food is served out to the 
dairy stock in their stalls at night, and in the heat of the day, by such farmers as 
bring their Cows into the house at these times. This mode of feeding is more 
especially followed when the pasture begins to fail ; the second crops of clover 
and tares, cabbages, coleworts, and other garden produce, are all given to the 
Cows in the house at this period. It is upon this system that the whole perfec- 
tion of the Flemish husbandry is founded ; and it could be put in practice, with 
the most beneficial results, in many other countries. In Holland, the Cows, when 
fed in the house, have their drink of water invariably mixed with oil-cake, rye, 
or oat-meal. Dairy Cows are allowed to be much injured by being denied a due 
supply of salt, which is said to improve the quality and increase the quantity of 
the milk. In the best managed dairies in Scotland, when the Cows are taken in 
for the winter, they are never put out to the fields until spring, when the grass 
has risen so much as to afford a full bite. In the moorish districts, however, 
they are put out to the fields for some hours every day when the weather will 
permit. In these districts, the winter food is turnips with marsh meadow hay — 
occasionally straw and boiled chaff. 

In the richer districts, turnips and straw are given, and occasionally some clo- 
ver hay in spring, or when the Cows have calved. Upon this subject nothing 
need be added, but that the quantity and quality of the milk will be in proportion 
to the nourishment in the food. White turnips afford a good quantity of milk, 
but they imparl a very disagreeable taste, which may be removed, however, by 
steaming or boiling the turnips, or by putting a small quantity of dissolved salt- 
petre into the milk when new drawn. The quality of the milk depends a great 
deal on the Cow ; influenced, however, by the food she eats. Linseed, peas and 
oat-meal produce rich milk ; and a mixture of bran and grains has been recom- 
mended as food in winter. Brewers' grains are said to produce a large quantity 
of milk, but very thin — the quality being somewhat similar to that sold in large 
towns, yielding neither good cream nor butter. It has been found of some 
importance to feed Cows frequently — three or four times a day in summer, 
and five or six in winter — and to give them no more at a time than they can eat 
cleanly. 

What has been stated regarding the feeding of Cows applies principally to 
those kept on dairy farms. In establishments for the supplying of large towns 
with milk, the method of feeding is somewhat different ; there the practice is to 
feed them chiefly on distillers' wash, brewers' grains, and every sort of liquid 
stuff that will produce a large quantity of milk, without reference to its quality. 
The Edinburgh cow-keepers begin to feed with grain, dreg, and bran, mixed to- 
gether, at five o'clock in the morning ; feed again at one o'clock in the afternoon, 
and a third time at seven or eight o'clock in the evening ; grass in summer, and 
turnips and potatoes in winter, being given in the two intervals. The grass is 
laid upon the straw, in order to impart to it a certain flavor, and make it palata- 



ble: it is eaten after the grass ; and, in winter, straw or hay is given after the 
turnips. Part of the turnips and potatoes are boiled, particularly when there is a 
scarcity of grains. 

The following is mentioned in the "Farmer's Magazine," as an improved 
mode of feeding milch Cows, near Farnham, in Surrey :— " Go to the cow-stall 
at six o'clock in the morning, winter and summer; give each Cow half a bushel 
of the mangel-wurzel, carrots, turnips, or potatoes, cut ; at seven o'clock, the 
hour the dairy-maid comes to milk them, give each some hay, and let them feed 
till they are all milked. If any Cow refuses hay, give her something she will 
eat — such as grains, carrots, &c. — during the time she is milking, as it is abso- 
lutehj necessary the Cow should feed while milking. As soon as the woman has 
finished milking in the morning, turn the Cows into the airing ground, and let 
there be plenty oi fresh ivater in the troughs; at nine o'clock, give each Cow 
three gallons of the mixture (as under — to eight gallons of grains, add four gal- 
lons of bran or pollard) ; when they have eaten that, put some hay into the cribs ; 
at twelve o'clock, give each three gallons of the mixture as before. If any Cow 
looks for more, give her another gallon. On the contrary, if she will not eat 
what you give her, take it out of the manger ; for never at one time let a Cow 
have more than she will eat up clean. Mind and keep your mangers clean, that 
they do not get sour. At two o'clock, give each Cow half a bushel of carrots, 
mangel-wurzel, or turnips ; look the turnips, &c. over well, before you give them 
to the Cows — as one rotten turnip, &c. will give a bad taste to the milk, and 
most likely spoil a whole dairy of butter. At four o'clock, put the Cows into the 
stall to be milked ; feed them on hay as you did at milking-time in the morning, 
keeping in mind that the Cow, while milking, must feed on something. At six 
o'clock, give each Cow three gallons of the mixture as before. Rack them up at 
eight o'clock. Twice in a week, put into each Cow's feed at noon a^quart of 
malt-dust." 

Milking. 

Cows are milked twice or thrice a day, according to circumstances. If twice, 
morning and night ; if thrice, morning, noon, and night. They should not go too 
long unmilked, for, independently of the uneasiness to the poor animal, it is se- 
verely injurious. 

The act of milking is one which requires great caution ; for, if not carefully 
and properly done, the quantity of the milk will be diminished, and the quality 
inferior, the milk which comes last out of the udder being always the richest. — 
It should, therefore, be thoroughly drawn from the Cows until not a drop more 
can be obtained, both to ensure a continuance of the usual supply of milk, and al- 
so to get the richest which the Cows afford. Cows should be soothed by mild 
usage, especially when young; for to a person whom they dislike, they never 
give their milk freely. The teats should always be clean washed before milk- 
ing, and when tender, they ought to be fomented with warm water. The milk- 
ing and management of the Cow should, in these circumstances, be only entrust- 
ed to servants of character, on whom the utmost reliance can be placed. In some 
places, it is a common practice to employ men to milk the Cows, an operation 
which seems better fitted for females, who are likely to do the work in a more 
gentle and cleanly manner, which is of essential importance. 

The writer in the " Farmer's Magazine," above quoted, gives the foUowmg ex- 
plicit directions to the dairy-maid in regard to milking :— " Go to the Cow-stall 
at seven o'clock ; take with you cold loater and a sponge, and wash each Cow's 
udder clean before milking ; dowse the udder well with cold water, winter and 
summer, as it braces and repels heats. Keep your hands and arms clean. Milk 
each Cow as dry as you can, morning and evening, and when you have milked 
each Cow as you suppose dry, begin again with the Cow you first milked, and 
drip them each ; for the principal reason of Cows failing in their milk is, from 
negligence in not milking the Cow dry, particularly at the time the calf is taken 
from the Cow. Suffer no one to milk a Cow but yourself, and have no gossiping 
in the stall. Every Saturday night give in an exact account of the quantity of 
milk each Cow has given in the week." 



THE DAIRY. 

The dairy should be cool, airy, dry, and free from vermin of all kinds. To pre- 
vent the intrusion of flies, the windows or ventilators ought to be covered with a 
fine wire gauze. The floor should be laid with smooth glazed tiles, and also the 
lower part of the walls : the benches on which the milk pans are to be placed are 
best when made of stone or slate, and about thirty inches broad. The ceiling 
should be at least eight feet from the floor, and finished in every respect like that 
of an ordinary dwelling-house. A slate roof is preferable to one of tile, as it tends 
to keep the temperature more equable. Cleanliness is of the most essential con- 
sequence ia dairy management, and, if not strictly looked after, may cause con- 
siderable loss. It is this which has raised the produce of the dairies of Holland 
so much in public estimation. Every article in which milk is placed, more es- 
pecially when made of wood, ought to be washed in boiling water, with a little 
soda or lime dissolved in it. If milk should happen to sour in any dish, the acid 
thus generated will injure any which may be afterward put into it ; but if washed 
in water in which an alkali has been dissolved, the acid will be destroyed. 

The utensils of a dairy are very numerous. The principal are milk-pails, shal- 
low coolers for holding the milk, sieves for straining it through after it is taken 
from the Cow, dishes for skimming the cream, churns for making the butter, 
scales, weights, &:c. For making cheese, there are likewise ladders, vats, tubs, 
curd-breakers, and presses ; and various other articles will be required, which it 
is almost impossible to enumerate. The majority of them are made of wood ; 
but in some of the best dairies in England and Scotland, it is now the practice to 
have the coolers made of cast-iron, wood lined with tin in the inside, or glazed 
earthenware. Maple is the wood generally used in England for the manufacture 
of these dishes ; both from its lightness, and being easily cut, it can be finished 
in a neater style. In Holland, the milk-dishes are very commonly made of brass ; 
and certainly brass or iron is to be preferred to wood, because the dishes made 
from either of these materials are more durable, and can be easier cleaned. It 
has been objected to earthenv/are vessels, that, being glazed with lead, the acid 
of the milk acting upon the glaze forms a very noxious poison. This, however, 
is scarcely correct ; it would require a much stronger acid than that of milk to 
decompose the glaze. Zinc pans are now coming into use, and they can be safely 
recommended for their cool and cleanly qualities, besides being economical. We 
have seen it stated that cream rises best in zinc pans. 

Churning is now, in all large dairy establishments, performed by machinery, 
■VTorked either by horse or water power. Churns vary in size from ten to fifty, 
and even one hundred gallons, according to the size of the establishment. Great 
care should be taken to wash churns thoroughly with boiling water, both imme- 
diately after they have been used, and before they are again to be put in opera- 
tion ; and those churns which admit of being easily cleaned are always to be re- 
commended, even although they should not be so elegant in construction. 



DAIRY PRODUCE. 

Milk. 

Milk consists of three materials blended together — called, in Science, the but- 
teraceous, lactic, and serous kinds of matter — which can be separated by artificial 
means, so as to form butter, the milk called buttermilk, and serum or whey. — 
The whey is little else than water, slightly saline, and is generally the chief in- 
gredient in the milk. When taken from the Cow, milk should be removed to 
the dairy or milk-house, and, after bemg sieved, placed in shallow pans, to throw 
up the butteraceous matter termed cream, which, being lightest, floats on the 
top. 

The following observations on milk and its management, made by Dr. Ander- 
son, are worthy of the consideration of cow-keepers : 

" Of the milk drawn from any Cow at one time, that part which comes off at 
the first is always thinner, and of a much worse quality for making butter, than 
that afterward obtained ; and this richness continues to increase progressively to 
the very last drop that can be obtained from the udder. 

'• If milk be put into a dish, and allowed to stand till it throws up cream, the 
portion of cream rising first to the surface is richer in quality and greater in quan- 



lity thau that which rises in a second equal space of time ; and the cream which 
rises in the second interval of time is greater in quantity and richer in quality ] 
than that which rises in a third equal space of time ; that of the third is greater | 
than that of the fourth, and so of the rest ; the cream that rises continuing pro- i 
gressively to decrease in quantity, and to decline in quality, so long as any rises ' 
lo the surface. i 

Thick milk always throws up a much smaller proportion of the cream which ' 
it actually contains than milk that is thinner ; but the cream is of a richer qual- [ 
ity ; and, if water be added to that thick milk, it will afford a considerably great- , 
er quantity of cream, and consequently more butter, than it would have done if 
allowed to remain pure ; but its quality is, at the same time, greatly debased. 

Milk which is put into a bucket or other proper vessel, and carried in it to a 
considerable distance, so as to be much agitated, and in part cooled, before it be 
put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much or so rich 
cream as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it was 
milked. 

From these fundamental facts, the reflecting dairyist will derive many im- 
portant practical rules. Some of these we shall enumerate, and leave the rest to 
be discovered. Cows should be milked as near the dairy as possible, in order to 
prevent the necessity of carrying and cooling the milk before it is put into the 
creaming dishes. Every Cow's milk should be kept separate till the peculiar 
properties of each are so well known as to admit of their being classed, when 
those that are most nearly allied may be mixed together. When it is intended 
to make butter of a very fine quality, reject entirely the milk of all those Cows 
which yield cream of a bad quality, and also keep the milk that is first drawn 
from the Cow at each milking entirely separate from that which is last obtained, 
as the quality of the butter must otherwise be greatly debased, without materi- 
ally augmenting its quantity. For the same purpose,' take only the cream that 
is first separated from the first drawn milk. Butter of the very best quality can 
only be economically made in those dairies where cheese is also made ; because 
in them the best part of each Cow's milk can be set apart for throwing up cream 
-the best part of this cream can be taken in order to be made into butter — and 
the remainder or all the rest of the milk and cream of the dairy can be turned in- 
to cheese. The sponianeous separation of cream, and the production of butter, 
are never eff'ected but in consequence of the production of acid in the milk. — 
Hence it is that, where the whole milk is set apart for the separation of cream, 
and the whole of the cream is separated, the milk must necessarily have turned 
sour before it is made into cheese ; and no very excellent cheese can be made from 
milk which has once attained that state." 

We now pass on to a consideration of the most valuable ingredient in the dairy 
produce — 

Butter. 

Butter is made of cream, freed from its milky and serous properties. This is 
effected by churning. Some imagine that no butter can be good except such as 
is made from fresh cream ; but this is a mistake, as cream requires to have a lit- 
tle acidity before the butter will form. The length of time which the cream 
should stand before churning has never been clearly ascertained ; from three to 
seven days, however, may be considered as the proper period. A more import- 
ant matter than the length of time which cream requires to stand, is the degree 
of temperature at which the cream will turn into butter. This has been ascer- 
tained from experiment to be from 45 to 75^^ of Fahrenheit. In Holland, when 
the cream is too cold, hot water is put into the chum to raise the temperature to 
70 or 75°. The best quality of butter is obtained at a temperature of 51° accord- 
ing to experiments performed by Mr. Pooler ; and the greatest quantity at a tem- 
perature of 56°. During the process of churning, the agitation will increase the 
heat to about five degrees more than it was when the cream was put into the 
churn. Mr. Pooler is of opinion, that the greater quantity of butter is obtained 
by the increased heat causing more milk to remain among the butter ; and this, 
of course, must decrease its quality. 

In some of the dairies in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, and in all those near 
Glasgow, the butter is made by churning the cream and the milk together. This 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



21 



is done in order to obtain the buttermilk, the demand for which is always great 
in large cities. When the milk and cream are to be churned together, the milk 
is kept in the coolers for from twelve to twenty-four hours, and then poured into 
a milk-tub. It remains here until required for churning ; and will, during this 
time, have coagulated. If a certain quantity of milk is put into the milk-tub, and 
has coagulated before any more has creamed, the coagulated milk must in no 
way be disturbed, or, if the two quantities are mixed together, too much ferment- 
ation may be the consequence. The milk is not churned till it has become acid; 
and when once coagulation has taken place, it should be churned as early as con- 
venient. If the milk has not fermented before churning, the buttermilk will keep 
for a much longer time, will have an agreeable taste, and will bear to be mixed 
with a little water. When the milk has fermented before being churned, the 
buttermilk will never be so good, nor will it keep for such a length of time as 
the former. 

The operation of churning, whether it be of cream alone, or cream and milk, is 
performed in the same manner. The milk requires more time than cream to 
complete the process, from two to three hours being considered necessary, 
while cream alone may be effectually churned in an hour and a half It is ne- 
cessary that the operation should be slow in warm weather ; for if done too has- 
tily, the butter will be soft and white. If the cream is at too high a tempera- 
ture, the churn should be cooled with cold spring water, to reduce it to the proper 
degree of heat. In winter, again, the operation of churning should be done as 
quickly as possible, the action being regular ; and the churn should be warmed, 
to raise the temperature of the milk or cream. The air which is generated in 
the churn should be allowed to escape, or it will impede the process by the froth 
which it creates. 

After the churning is performed, the butter should be washed in cold spring 
water, with a little salt in it, two or three times, to extract all the milk which 
may be lodging about the mass. It is said by some that the butter retains its 
sweetness much longer when no water is used ; and others affirm that the wash- 
ing improves the flavor. The extraction of the milk from butter will reduce 
its weight ; but it appears from the experiments of Mr. Pooler upon the tempera- 
ture of the cream, that the less milk which is in the butter its quality is propor- 
tionably improved. Kneading and beating the butter too much render it tough 
and gluey. After the milk has been carefully extracted, if the butter is to be 
salted, it should be mixed with the finest salt, in the proportion of ten ounces to 
fourteen pounds, more or less, according to the time the butter is to be preserved. 
The butter and salt should be well mixed together with the hand ; and in Ire- 
land it is customary to add a little saltpetre. A compound of one part of sugar, 
one part nitre and two parts of the best Spanish salt, finely powdered together, 
has been highly recommended for preserving butter. It is used in the proportion 
of one ounce to the pound ; and it is said to give a flavor to the butter which no 
other kind ever acquires. 

For making butter casks or kegs the wood of trees containing no acid is recom- 
mended. When wood contains acid it acts powerfully upon the salt in the but- 
ter, converting it into brine. Any wood will answer if boiled for a few hours, for 
by this process the pyrolignous acid will be entirely taken out. 

In salting, the butter should never be put into the firkins in layers ; but the 
surface should be left every day rough and broken, so as to unite better with that 
of the succeeding churning. The quality may likewise be better preserved by 
covering it over with a clean linen cloth dipped in pickle, and placing it in a cool 
situation. 

Buttermilk. 

This is the liquid which remains in the churn after removing the butter. If 
skimmed milk has been employed for churning, the buttermilk is thin, poor, and 
easily sours; but if from the churning of the entire milk, the buttermilk is more 
thick and rich, and is considered by many a delicious beverage. Good buttermilk 
is at all events exceedingly wholesome and nutritious. In Ireland it is largely 
used at meals with potatoes ; in Scotland it is more frequently employed as a 
relish with oat-meal porridge ; and for this purpose large quantities are brought 
to Edinb"urgh, Glasgow and other towns, from the adjoining rural districts. In 



22 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 




England, the buttermilk of farmers is usually employed in feeding pigs. In New- 
York it is always found for sale at the markets at from two to three cents per 
quart. 

Devonshire Clouted Cream. 

This is a preparation of the rich milk of Devonshire, and may be said to be a 
kind of half-formed butter, such is the solidness of its consistency. In Van- 
couver's " Survey of Devonshire," the following is described as the mode of pre- 
paring this delicious article :— " The milk is put into tin or earthen pans, holding 
about^ten or twelve quarts each. The evening's meal is placed the following 
mornino-, and the morning's milk is placed in the afternoon, upon a broad iron plate 
heated by a small furnace, or otherwise over stoves, where exposed to a gentle 
fire, they remain until after the whole body of cream is supposed to have formed 
upon the surface ; which being gently removed by the edge of a spoon or ladle, 
small air-bubbles will begin to rise, that denote the approach of a boiling heat, 
when the pans must be removed from off the heated plate or stoves. The cream 
remains upon the milk in this state until quite cold, when it may be removed into 
a churn, or, as is more frequently the case, into an open vessel, and then moved 
by the hand with a stick about a foot long, at the end of which is fixed a sort of 
peel from four to six inches in diameter, and with which about twelve pounds 
of butter may be separated from the buttermilk at a time — the butter in both 
cases being found to separate much more freely, and sooner to coagulate into a 
mass, than in the ordinary way, when churned from raw cream that may have 
been several days in gathering ; and at the same time will answer a more valua- 
ble purpose in preserving, which should be first salted in the usual way, then 
placed in convenient-sized egg-shaped earthen crocks, and always kept covered 
with a pickle, made strong enough to float and buoy up about half out of the brine 
a new-laid egg. Tills cream, before churning, is the celebrated clouted cream of 
Devon." 

Cheese. 

Cheese may be made from cream alone, or from the whole milk ; the object 
in either case being in the first place to separate the serum from the other mate- 
rials. This is effected by curding the cream or milk, by the infusion of an acid, 
the refuse being tho serum or whey, which is of scarcely any value. [For a very 
valuable Treatise on the best mode of manufacturing Cheese, see Farmers' Li- 
brary AND Monthly Journal of Agriculture, Vol. 1. pp. 137 — 150.] 

LONDON dairy MANAGEMENT. 

The quantity of fresh milk annually consumed in the British metropolis was 
lately calculated to be 39,420,000 quarts, costing £985,500, and being the pro- 
duce of 12,000 Cows, kept principally in large dairy establishments in all parts 
of the environs. The milk is generally of the best kind when drawn from the 
animals ; but, between the dairy" and the consumer, it passes through several 
hands, each of whom takes a profit upon it, and increases the quantity of salable 
liquid by large infusions of water, chalk, &c. In the condition it usually reaches 
the public, it is shamefully adulterated. The charge of deteriorating the quality 
of the article is seldom made upon the cow-keepers, whose establishments are, 
for the most part, models of good management. As it may be interesting to our 
readers to have some account of these large dairies, we present the following par- 
ticulars : 

The two largest dany establishments are those of Mr. Flight (kno\vn as Lay- ) 
cock's dairy) and of Messrs. Rhodes. Flight's is one of the curiosities of Lon- '• 
don ; it covers fourteen acres of ground, surrounded by a high wall, and including 
buildings for the different purposes required. In the cow-house there are up- 
ward of 400 Cows, the whole of which are fed in stalls. The food is very prop- 
erly varied ; at one time they have mangel-wurzel ; then they have turnips, car- 
rots, cabbages, and clover ; and, when fattening for market, they are fed on oil- 
cake and other article.-. All are curried daily. Adjoining the cow-house is a 
hospital for unwell Cows, or Cows which are calving. The milk-house is kept 
beautifully clean, being scoured daily with hot water. 

With respect to Fihodes's dairy, which is situated at Islington, Mr. Loudon, in 



his "Encyclopaedia of Agriculture," has condensed the following description of 
its extent and mode of management from various publications : 

" The number of Cows kept by the present Messrs. Rhodes exceeds, on an ave- 
rage of the year, four hundred : at one lime these individuals are said to have 
had upward of a thousand Cows in their dilferent establishments. The surface 
on which the buildings are placed is a slope of two or three acres, facing the 
east ; and its inclination is about one inch in six feet. The sheds run in the di- 
rection of the slope — as well for the natural drainage of the gutters, and the more 
easily scraping, sweeping, and wheeling out of the manure, as for supplying wa- 
ter for drinking to small cast-iron troughs, which are fixed in the wall's, at the 
heads of the cattle, in such a manner as that the one trough may be supplied 
from the other throughout the whole length of the shed. The sheds are twenty- 
four feet wide ; the side walls about eight feet high ; the roof of tiles, with rising 
shutters for ventilation, and with panes of glass, glazed into cast-iron skeleton 
tiles, for light. The floor is nearly flat, with a gutter along the center ; and a 
row of slalls, each seven feet and a half wide, and adapted for two Cows, runs 
along the sides. The Cows are fastened by chains and rings, which rings run on 
upright iron rods, in the corners of the stalls — the common mode being departed 
from only in having iron rods instead of wooden posts. A trough or manger, 
formed of stone, slate, or cement, of the ordinary size of those used for horses, 
and with its upper surface about eighteen inches from the ground, is fixed at the 
head of each stall. Four sheds are placed parallel and close to each other, and 
in the party walls are openings, about a foot in breadth and four feet high, oppo- 
site each Cow. The bottom of these openings is about nine inches higher than 
the upper surface of the troughs, and is formed by the upper surface of the oue- 
foot-square cast-iron cisterns, which contain the water for drinking. Each cis- 
tern serves two Cows, which, of course, are in different sheds, but adjoining and 
opposite each other. All these troughs are supplied from one large cistern by 
pipes, in a manner which can be so readily conceived that we shall not stop to 
offer a description. Each of these troughs has a wooden cover, which is put on 
during the time the Cows are eating their grains, to prevent their drinking at the 
same time, and dropping grains in the water. At the upper end, and at one cor- 
ner of this quadruple range of sheds, is the dairy, which consists of three rooms 
of about twelve feet square : the outer or measuring room : the middle or scald- 
ing room, with a fire place and a boiler ; and the inner or milk and butter-room, 
separated by a passage from the last. At the lower end of the range is a square 
yard, surrounded by sheds — one for fattening the Cows when they have ceased 
to give milk, and the others for store and breeding pigs. The pigs are kept for 
the purpose of consuming the casual stock of skim milk which occasionally re- 
mains on hand, owing to the fluctuations in the demand. This milk is kept in a 
well, walled with brick laid in cement, about six feet in diameter and twelve feet 
deep. The milk becomes sour there in a very short time, and, as is well known, 
is found most nourishing to the pigs when given in that state. Breeding swine 
are found most profitable, the sucking pigs being sold for roasting. Beyond this 
yard is a deep and wide pit or pond, into which the dung is emptied from a plat- 
form of boards projecting into it. The only remaining building wanted to com- 
plete the dairy establishment is a house or pit for containing the exhausted malt 
(grains), on which the Cows are chiefly fed. Messrs. Rhodes have a building or 
pit of this description at some distance, where they have a smaller establishment. 
There are a stack-yard, sheds, and pits for roots, straw, and hay, a place for cut- 
ting hay into chaff, cart-sheds, stables, a counting-house, and other buildings and 
places common to all such establishments, which it is not necessary to describe. 

" The Cows in Rhodes's dairy are purchased newly calved in the cow-market 
held in Islington every Monday. They are kept as long as they continue to give 
not less than two gallons of milk a day, and are then fattened on oil-cake, grains, 
and cut clover hay, for the butcher. The Short-Horned breed is preferred, partly 
for the usual reason of being more abundant milkers than the Long-Horns, partly 
because the shortness of their horns allows them to be placed closer together, 
and partly because this breed is more frequently brought to market than any 
other. The Ayrshire breed has been tried to the number of 150 at a time, and 
highly approved of, as affording a very rich cream, as fattening in a very short 
time when they have left off giving milk, and as producing a beef which sold 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



much higher than that of the Short-Horns. The difficulty, however, m procur- 
ing this breed was found so great that Mr. Rhodes was obliged to leave it off.— 
The leno-th of time during which a Cow, treated as in this establishment, contin- 
ues to "-ive milk, varies from six months to the almost incredible period of two 
years. *We were assured of there being at this inoment several Cows among the 
390 which we saw, that had stood in their places even more than two years, and 
continued to give upward of one gallon of milk daily. 

" The treatment of the Cows in Rhodes's dairy differs from that in most other 
establishments. The Cows are never untied during the whole period that they 
remain in the house. In most other establishments, if not in all, stall-fed Cows 
or cattle are let out at least once a day to drink ; but these animals have clear 
water continually before them. Tbey are kept very clean, and the sheds are so 
remarkably well ventilated, by means of the openings in the roofs, that the air 
seemed to us purer than that of any cow-house we had ever before examined ; 
probably from its direct perpendicular entrance through the roof— this, in moder- 
ate weather, being certainly far preferable to its horizontal entrance through the 
side walls. 

" The principal food of the Cows in Rhodes's dairy, as in all the other London 
establishments, consists of grains— that is, malt after it has been used by the 
brewer or the distiller. As the brewing seasons are chiefly autumn and spring, 
a stock of grains is laid in at these seasons sufficient for the rest of the year. — 
The grains are generally laid in pits, bottomed and lined with brickwork set in 
cement, from ten to twenty feet deep, about twelve or sixteen feet wide, and of 
any convenient length. The grains are firmly trodden down by men — the heaps 
being finished like hayricks, or ridges in which potatoes are laid up for the win- 
ter, and covered with from six to nine inches of moist earth or mud, to keep out 
the rain and frost in winter and the heat in summer. As a Cow consumes about 
a bushel of grains a day, it is easy to calculate the quantity required to be laid in. 
The grains are warm, smoking, and in a state of fermentation, Avhen put in, and 
they continue fit for use for several years — becoming somewhat sour, but they are, 
it is said, as much relished by the Cows as when fresh. It is common to keep 
grains two or three years ; but in this establishment they have been kept nine 
years, and found perfectly good. The exclusion of the air almost prevents the 
increase of the fermentation and consequent decomposition. What is called dis- 
tillers' wash — which is the remainder, after distillation, of a decoction of ground 
malt and meal — is also given to Cows, but more frequently to such as are fatten- 
ing than to those in milk. The present price of brewers' grains is fourpence half- 
penny per bushel; of distillers' grains, on account of the meal which they con- 
tain, ninepence a bushel ; of wash, thirty-six gallons for sixpence. 

" Salt is given to the Cows in Rhodes's dairy at the rate of two ounces each 
Cow a day. It is mixed with the grains, which are supplied before milking, 
about three o'clock in the morning ; and in the afternoon, about two o'clock, just 
before milking. Of green food or roots, portions are supplied alternately with 
the grains ; and in winter, when tares or green grass cannot be procured, after 
the turnips, potatoes, or mangel-wurzel have been eaten, a portion of dry hay is 
given. 

" The produce of this dairy is almost entirely milk and cream for private fami- 
lies and for public hospitals and other institutions. A number of the public es- 
tablishments are supplied directly from the dairy by contract ; but private fami- 
lies are principally supplied by milk-dealers : these have what are called milk- 
walks— that is, a certain number of customers, whom they call upon with sup- 
plies twice a day ; and they are thus enabled to ascertain the average of what 
their customers consume, and to contract with Messrs. Rhodes for this average. 
The latter calculate the number of Cows sufficient to give the dealer the supply 
wanted, and this number the dealer undertakes to milk twice a day — namely, at 
three o'clock in the morning, and at three in the afternoon. The milk is meas- 
ured to the dealer, and should he have milked more than his quantity, it remains 
with the dairyman ; but should the Cows have been deficient in the quantity, it 
I is made good from the milk of other Cows, milked on account of the contracts of 
' the establishment. As the supply of the Cows and the demand of the dealers 
[ are continually varying, it often happens that considerable quantities of milk re- 
I main on the dairyman's hands — frequently, we are told, as much as sixty or sev- 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



25 



enty gallons a day. This quantity is placed in shallow earthen vessels, to throw- 
up the cream in the usual manner ; this cream is churned, and the butter sold." 
The skimmed milk, it is added, as well as the buttermilk, are, as is usual ia 
English dairies, given to the pigs. 

NEW-YORK DAIRY MANAGEMENT. 

In contrast to the above, we here insert some remarks more immediately ap- 
plicable to the management of the New-York Dairies, from Hartley's Essay on 
Milk, published in New-York in the year 1842: 

" The manner of producing milk to supply the inhabitants of cities and other 
populous places is so contrary to our knowledge of the laws which govern the an- 
imal economy, that from a bare statement of the facts, any intelligent mind might 
confidently anticipate the evils which actually result from it. The natural and 
healthy condition of the Cows appears, for the most part, to be utterly disregard- 
ed. They are literally crowded together in large numbers in filthy pens, which 
at once deprives them of adequate exercise and pure air, both of which are indis- 
pensably essential to their health. Instead of being supplied with food suited to 
the masticatory and digestive organs of herbivorous and ruminant animals, they 
are most generally treated as if omnivorous ; and their stomachs are gorged with 
any description of aliment, however unhealthy, which can be most easily and 
cheaply procured, and will produce the greatest quantity of milk. Thus, in the 
vicinities of the cities of New-York and Brooklyn, in America, and indeed 
wherever grain distilleries abound, either in this country or in Europe, distillery- 
slop is extensively used.* In London and other places \v\iexehreivers'' grains can 
be obtained, they are in great requisition for milk-dairies ; while in grape-grow- 
ing countries, the refuse of the grape is used for the same purpose, and with ef- 
fects as pernicious as those produced by the dregs of the distillery. Besides these 
unhealthy aliments, in other cases decayed vegetables, and the sour and putrid 
offals and remnants of kitchens, are in populous places carefully gathered up as 
food for milch Cows. As might be expected, the cattle, under this most unnatural 
management, become diseased, and the lactescent secretions not only partake of the 
same nature, but are impure, unhealthy, and innutritious. Yet this milk is the 
chief aliment of children in all places where the population is condensed in great 
numbers ; it is the nourishment chosen and relied upon to develop the physical 
powers and impart vigor to the constitution during the most feeble and critical 
period of human life, when the best possible nourishment is especially necessary 
in order to counteract the injurious effects of the infected air and deficient exer- 
cise, which are often inseparable from the conditions of a city life. 

" So few are the exceptions to these modes of producing and using milk under 
the circumstances named, that they may be said to be nearly universal, both in 
this and in most other countries. And when it is recollected that in the United 
States about one-third of the population live in masses, and in Europe a vastly 
greater proportion, some adequate idea may be formed of the extent to which the 
evils consequent upon the use of an essential but an unhealthy article of food, 
prevail." .... 

" But slop alone, as food for fattening cattle, is of little value. On such unnat- 
ural aliment they become diseased and emaciated. Cows plentifully supplied 
with it, may yield abundance of milk ; but it is notorious that the article thus 
produced is so defective in the properties essential to good milk, that it cannot be 
converted into butter or cheese, of course is good for nothing — except to sell. But 
in country places milk cannot be turned to account in this way for there are no 
buyers, and as slop is not in request for stock or dairies, if the distiller would find 
the most advantageous market for it, he must conduct his operations in the vi- 
cinity of populous places. This, we repeat, is one among other reasons why 
such localities are desired. He finds it less profitable to fatten swine upon slop, 
on account of the risk of killing them to his. own detriment, than to have it fed to 
human beings through the agency of the dairyman." .... 

" It has been estimated, after careful inquiry, that about ten thousand Cows in 
the city of New-York and neighborhood, are most inhumanly condemned to sub- 
sist on the residuum or slush of this grain, after it has undergone a chemical 

* Distillery-slop is the refuse of grain diifused through water after it has undergone a chemical cliange, the 
alcohol and farina being extracted by the processes of fermentation and distillation. 




change, and reeking hot from the distilleries. This slush, moreover, after the 
ceremony of straining through the organs of sickly Cows, as before stated, and 
duly colored and diluted and medicated, is sold to the citizens at an annual ex- 
pense of more than a million dollars. The amount of disease and death conse- 
quent upon the sale and use of this milk, is doubtless recorded in the books of fi- 
nal judgment, and will hereafter be revealed. Eut the fact which chiefly con- 
cerns the public is, that this milk has been, and, it is believed, is now, extensive- 
ly injurious and fatal to health and life." .... 

" The Gow is an herbivorous and a ruminating animal ; pasturage, of course, 
or gramineous matter, is its natural and appropriate aliment. 

" Reasoning a priori from the physical formation of the Cow, as it is a rumina- 
ting animal, it were easy to demonstrate that its digestive organs are peculiarly 
adapted, and were designed by Nature, for solid food : and. consequently, that dis- 
tillery slop and food of that description is the most unnatural aliment which it 
can receive into its stomach. 

" The digestive organs of the ruminant class, such as the Cow and sheep, are 
more complicated than those of any other animals. In the first place, they have 
cutting or incisor teeth which are admirably adapted for croppmg grass or pastur- 
age. The upper external portion of these teeth is convex, rising straight from 
the gum ; while inward they have a concave surface, gradually diminishing in 
thickness, and terminating in a sharp edge which is covered with enamel, so as 
to produce and retain the sharpness necessary for separating herbaceous sub- 
stances. They have also large molares, or grinding teeth, fitted for comminuting 
grassy fibres, or food which requires long and difficult mastication, in order that 
the nourishment may be extracted from it ; and for this purpose we find the 
enamel, or harder portions of the teeth, distributed over and throughout their 
texture. Besides this, they have large salivary glands, for the purpose of moist- 
ening and lubricating the food preparatory to swallowing, and to aid in the sec- 
ond process of mastication, during which the food is reduced to a pultaceous state ; 
while, in carnivorous animals, these glands are either wanting, or of a much 
smaller size." .... 

" One of the most notorious of the overgrown metropolitan milk-establish- 
ments, or rather the largest collection of slop-dairies — for there are many propri- 
etors — is situated in the western suburbs of the city, near the termination, and 
between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, in New-York. The area occupied by 
the concern includes the greater part of two squares, extending from below the 
Ninth Avenue to the Hudson River, probably a distance of one thousand feet. — 
During the winter season, about two thousand Cows are said to be kept on the 
premises, but in summer the number is considerably reduced. The food of the 
Cows, of course, is slop, which being drawn off" into large tanks, elevated some 
ten or fifteen feet, is thence conducted in close, square wooden gutters, and dis- 
tributed to the different cow-pens, where it is received into triangular troughs, 
rudely constructed by the junction of tv/o boards. The range of the pens being 
interrupted by the intersection of the Tenth-avenue, the slop is conveyed by 
means of a gutter underground to the opposite side of the road, where it is re- 
ceived into a capacious reservoir, and thence conducted to the pens, which extend 
to the margin of the river. In the vicinity of Brooklyn there is a similar estab- 
lishment, which contains about seven hundred Cows ; and in the neighborhood of 
that city and of New-York there are numerous smaller concerns, where the cat- 
tle are fed in like manner, by receiving the slop smokmg hot directly from the 
distilleries. In the far greater number of cases, however, the dairies are too far 
from the distilleries to be supplied in this way. The slop is therefore carted in 
vast quantities from the distilleries, in hogsheads, to the smaller milk establish- 
rnents, which are numerously scattered in the suburbs and neighborhoods of the 
cities to the distance of several miles.* 

* Siace the above was written, the author revisited some of the slop-milk manufactories in New-York, 
Brooklyn. WiUiamsburgh, Bushwick, the WiUlabout, and viciuities, for the purpose of information. He 
leam(!d that, at some of the establishments in these places, an unusual mortality had recently occurred 
among the milch Cows. The fact itself was indisputable ; but owing to the unwillingness, not to say inci- 
vility, of the persons who supposed it was their interest to conceal the tmth, nothing very definite in rela- 
tion to the nature and extent of the disease was obtained. Some of the distilleries, we observed, had been 
enlarged, and others were undergoing repairs, which, occasioning a temporary failure of slop, the dair>'men 
were cartia^ u across the East River from New- York, for the supply of their cattle. The slop concerns and 
distillenes, though somewhat improved in appearance since public attention had been directed to them 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



27 



" The daily average quantity of slop for a Cow is about a barrel of thirty-two 
gallons. At first we were incredulous as to the amount they learn to consume ; 
but after many careful inquiries at many dairies, the fact is rendered certain. — 
Now it is evident that no Cow in health would eat such an enormous quantity of 
slop. By feeding on this unnatural and stimulating food, they are thrown into a 
state of disease, and for a short time will feed monstrously, and yield large quan- 
tities of bad milk." .... 

" The cow-pens are rude, unsightly wooden buildings, varying from fifty to 
two hundred feet in length, and about thirty feet in breadth. They are very 
irregularly arranged, so as to cover the entire groundj excepting narrow avenues 
between ; and appear to have been temporarily constructed, as the arrival of new 
dairies required enlargements for their accommodation. It is said they will con- 
tain about two thousand head of cattle; but this estimate, we would judge, is an 
exaggeration. The stalls are rented by the proprietor of the distilleries to the 
ditferent cow owners, at from four to five dollars a year per each head of cattle, 
while the slop is furnished at nine cents a barrel.* Slop constituting both food 
and drink, water and hay or other solid or gramineous fodder, supply no part of 
the wants of these abused animals. The fluid element, indeed, appears not to 
be in request for purifying purposes. Fountains of pure water, extensive hay- 
ricks, capacious out-houses, and similar conveniences, which are ordinarily 
deemed so important for the feeding and watering so large a stock, are here dis- 
pensed with as unnecessary appendages to a city dairy. 

" The interior of the pens corresponds with the general bad arrangement and 
repulsive appearance of the exterior. Most of the cattle stand in rows of from 
seven to ten across the building, head to head and tail to tail alternately. There 
is a passage in the rear for cleaning, and another in front which gives access to 
the heads of the cattle. The floor is gently inclined, but no litter is allowed. — 
The stalls are three feet wide, with a partition between each, and a ceiling about 
seven feet high overhead. But the chief and most inexcusable defects are the 
want of ventilation and cleanliness ; though in the latter respect, since public at- 
tention has been called to their vile condition, they are somewhat improved. — 
There appears, however, no contrivance for washing the pens, or by which a 
circulation of air can be produced. To scent the effluvia, as it is diluted and dif- 
fused in the surrounding atmosphere, is sufficiently oflensive, and the visitor will 
instinctively retire in dread of closer proximity. But to survey the premises round 
about, and merely to look into the pens, will but inadequately convey an idea of 
the disgusting reality. . . . The astonishment is that animal life, with all 
its wonderful recuperative energies, and power of accommodation to circum- 
stances, can exist in so fetid an atmosphere." .... 

" Such, then, as described, is the barbarous and unnatural treatment of this do- 
cile, inoffensive and unfortunate animal, that is destined to supply us with nutri- 
ment, both when living and dead, and which is one of the most valuable gifts of 
Providence to ungrateful men." .... 

" Slop-milk is naturally very thin, and of a pale bluish color. In order to dis- 

werc still spoken of by the inhabitants in the neighborhoods as nuisances of so oflensive a character as to 
prevent the improvement of property in their vicinity; wliile their present vile condition too truly indicated 
the nature of the evils they were continuing to uiflict on more distant portions of the community. The 
most careful inquiries, however, failed to elicit any new information of interest ; but we everywhere re- 
ceived the fullest contirmation of the facts and principles which are spiead throughout this work. 

In the course of the tour, we visited a large rum-distilleiy located in the immediate neighborhood 
of the South P'eriy, Brooklyn. We were not disappointed in failing of admittance into the concern, for 
it is common to all these establishments, which are battening on the spoils of an injured community, to 
conceal, as far as possible, their opefalious from the public eye. It was, however, of little consequence, for 
there were other means ot iufonnation at hand, and much lliat was open to observation. We were informed 
that from seven Immdred to one thousand bushels of grain are Ao\\y converted into whisky at this distillery, 
the refuse of which would suffice to slop two thousand Cows; and that about Jtfly head of cattle, and from 
Jive to seven hundred swine, were fattening on the premises. No milch Cows are there kept ; but we count- 
ed eighty-seven carts and wagons, containing an aggregate of one hundred and twenty-nine hogsheads, appa- 
rently waiting for slush, exclusive of numerous others which were going and returning from the premises. 
The hour of our visit (3 o'clock P.M.) was inopportune to witness the daily delivery of the slop. The great- 
est activity in the business is from 4 to 8 o'clock morning and evening, during which time an incessant 
stream of carts is seen issuing from the distillery, laden with slop for the supply of the neighboring dairies. 

The quantity of milk required for the daily supply of the cities of New- York and Brooklyn, iis near as can 
be ascertained, is about fifteen thousand gallons, "fhis, at the average price of six cents per quart, amounts 
to three, thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars per day, or, in round numbers, to fifteen hundred thousand 
dollars a year. 

* The price of slop is not uniform, but is varied by the value of grain. It has been as low as 6} cents per 
barrel 



28 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: 



guise its bad qualities and render it salable, it is necessary to give it color and 
consistence. That it is often adulterated is proved by analysis, and the confes- 
sions of those who froni principle have relinquished the practice. Starch, su^ar, 
flour, plaster of Paris, chalk, eggs, annatto, etc. are used for this purpose ; such 
substances being preferred, of course, vi^hich have the strongest affinity for the 
fluid, and will not readily precipitate.* These adulterations enable the vender 
to give the milk a proper consistence and a beautiful while color, so as to dilute 
the wretched slush with about an equal quantity of water, without detection." 

) GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF CATTLE 

I Fattening Cattle for Market. 

I The stall-feeding or soiling of cattle is considered to possess several advantages 
I over feeding in the fields. In field-feeding, the animals waste a certain quantity 
» of pasture by treading and lying upon it, and by dropping their dung—the grass 
[ which grows on the dung spots being ever after rejected fthe animals also spend 
, time in seeking for the herbage which suits their fancy, and much is allowed to 
I go to seed untouched. In stall-feeding, the whole time is devoted to eating and 
I ruminating, while no food is lost, and the animals are brought to a higher condi- 
, tion. Another important advantage of soiling is that it uses up the waste straw 
of a farm as litter, and thus furnishes a plentiful supply of that indispensable ar- 
ticle, manure, for the fields. Some feeders tie up their cattle to the stall while 
preparing for market ; but others permit them to roam about on a thick bed of 
straw in an enclosure in the farm-yard, with a shed to retire to for shelter— the 
feeding in this case being from racks. Unless for a period during the final pro- 
cess of fattening, the straw-yard method is reckoned the best for keeping the cat- 
tle in a healthy state, and consequently for producing beef of the finest kind.— 
The practice of feeding cattle for a considerable length of time, in darkened 
, stalls, on oil-cake, carrots, mangel-wurzel, &c. produces, as is well known, a 
great deposition of fat, and swells the animals to a monstrous size The beef 
however, of such over-fed cattle is never fine. The fat with which it is loaded 
easily escapes in cooking, and leaves lean of an inferior quality. The be'^t sio-n 
"u ^^^^^ ^^ "^ ^^'"^^ marbled, or the fat and lean well mixed, Avhen brou^^ht 
to the table ; and this is not to be expected from beef fed in an unnatural con- 
dition. 

The age at which cattle are fattened depends upon the manner in which thev ' 
have been reared— upon the properties of the breed in regard to a propensity to ' 
fatten earlier or later in life— and on the circumstances of their being employed ! 
m breeding, in labor, for the dairy, or reared solely for the butcher, fn the latter ' 
case, the most improved breeds are fit for the shambles when about three years ' 
old, and very few of any large breed are kept more than a year longer. As to I 
Cows and workmg Oxen, the age of fattening must necessarily be more indefin- < 
ite ; m most instances, the latter are put up to feed after working three years or ! 
in the seventh or eighth year of their age. ' ' I 

Rules for Selecting Cattle. ( 

In selecting cattle for feeding, their qualities may be in some measure known < 
by examining the hide, horns, &c. " It is well knmvn that the grazier and the | 
butcher judge of the aptitude that any animal has to fatten from the touch of 
the skm. When the hide feels soft and silky, it strongly indicates a tendency in 1 
the animal to take on meat ; and it is evident that a fine and soft skin must be 
Tfl"" ? !u ' """^ "^°''' ^^^^^Y stretched out to receive any extraordinary quantity 
oi flesh, than a thick or tough one. At the same time thick hides are of great \ 
importance m various manufactures. Indeed, they are necessary in cold coun- 
tries where cattle are much exposed to the inclemency of the seasons ; and, in 
Jebes breeds of Highland cattle, the skin is thick in'proportion to their size! 
without being so tough as to be prejudicial to their capacity of fattening. It apl * 
pears, from Columella's description of the best kind of Ox,-that the advantage of 



THE COW AND THE DAIRY. 



29 



a soft skin is not a new discovery, but was perfectly well known to the husband- 
men of ancient Italy." These are the observations of Sir John Sinclair, who adds . 
the following as a summary of good points to be attended to in choosing cattle: ) 
" They should be— 1. Of a moderate size, unless where the food is of a nature pe- j 
culiarly forcing ; 2. Of a shape the most likely to yield profit to the farmer ; 3. 
Of a docile disposition, without being deficient in spirit ; 4. Hardy, and not liable 
to disease ; 5. Easily maintained, and on food not of a costly nature ; 6. Arriving 
soon at maturity ; 7. Producing considerable quantities of milk ; 8. Havmg flesh j 
of an excellent quality ; 9. Having a tendency to take on fat ; 10. Havmg a valu- < 
able hide ; and, lastly. Calculated (should it be judged necessary) for working." J 
It is thought best to begin to break-in Oxen at three years old, and to give them , 

full work at four. <,- , r n ' 

With respect to judging of cattle by their horns and teeth, we otter the toUow- < 
ing observations by Mr. Hickey : ^ • • u i, ' 

" The ordinary guide for ascertaining the precise age of cattle is the horn, , 
which is also indicative of the breed ; at three years old (this is laid down as a ' 
rule) the horns are perfectly smooth, after this a ring appears near the root, and 
annually afterward a new circle, so that, by adding two years to the first ring, 
the age' is calculated ; but it has been clearly shown that this is a very uncertain 
mode^of judging ; ' that the rings are only distinct in the Cow ;' and that ' if a 
Heifer goes to the Bull when she is two years old, or a little before or after that 
time, there is an immediate change in the horn, and the first ring appears ; so 
that a real three-year old would carry the mark of a four-year old.' ' In the Bull 
they are either not seen until five, or they cannot be traced at all ;' nor in the Ox 
do they 'appear until he is five years old, and they are often confused ;' besides, 
' there is also an instrument called a rasp, which has been said to make many an 
arm ache a little before a large fair.' Without any delusive intentions, however, 
an uo-ly set in the horns of young cattle is often remedied by filmg a little off the 
sides^of the tips opposite to the direction which it is desired that the horns should 

" Some men have an antipathy to horns altogether, and would even carry their 
dislike so far as to extirpate thern from the brows of all their cattle ; they can m- 
duh-e their taste by paring off the tops of the horns when they first break through 
the*skin. Perhaps it is not generally known that the larger the horn the thinner 

the skull. . , , 1 u t, 1, 

i " The ao-e is indicated with unerring certainty by the teeth, to those who have 
I iudf'ment and experience, until the animal reaches the age of six or seven ; until 
two^'years old, no teeth are cast ; at that age, two new teeth are cut ; at three, 
two more are cut ; and, in the two succeeding years, two in each year ; at five, 
the mouth is said to be full, though not completely so until six, because until that 
period the two corner teeth (the last in renewal) are not perfectly up. The front 
or tncisor teeth are those considered, for a full-grown beast has altogether thirty- 
two teeth." 

Method of Ascertaining the Weight of Cattle while Living. 
" This is of the utmost utility for all those who are not experienced judges by 
the eve • and, by the following directions, the weight can be ascertained within 
a mere trifle :— Take a string, put it round the beast, standing square, just behind 
the shoulder-blade : measure on a foot-rule the feet and inches the animal is m 
circumference-this is called the girth ; then, with the string, measure from the 
bone of the tail which plumbs the line with the hinder part of the buttock ; direct 
the line along the back to the fore part of the shoulder-blade ; take the dimen- 
sions on the foot-rule as before, which is the length, and work the figures in the 
foUowinc^ manner :— Girth of the bullock, 6 feet 4 inches ; length, 5 feet 3 mches ; 
which, multiplied together, make 31 square superficial feet ; that again multi- 
plied by 23 (the number of pounds allowed to each superficial foot of cattle meas- 
urin<r less than 7 and more than 5 in girth), makes 713 pounds ; and, allowing 
14 pounds to the stone, is 50 stone 13 pounds. Where the animal measures less 
than 9 and more than 7 feet in girth, 31 is the number of pounds to each super- 
ficial foot. Again, suppose a pig or any small beast should measure 2 feet m 
<Tirth and 2 feet along the back, which, multiplied together, make 4 square teet ; 
that multiplied by 11, the number of pounds allowed for each square foot of cat- 



30 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



tie measuring less than 3 feet in girth, makes 44 pounds ; which, divided by 14, 
to bring it to stones, is 3 stone 2 pounds. Again, suppose a calf, a sheep, &c. 
should measure 4 feet 6 inches in girth, and 3 feet 9 inches in length, which, 
multiplied together, make 161 square feet ; that multiplied by 16, the number of 
pounds allowed to all cattle measuring less than 5 feet, and more than 3 in girth, 
makes 264 pounds ; which, divided by 14, to bring it into stones, is 18 stone 12 
pounds. The dimensions of the girth and length of black cattle, sheep, calves, 
or ho"-s, may be as exactly taken this way as is at all necessary for any computa- 
tion o*r valuation of stock, and will answer exactly to the four quarters, sinking 
the offal ; and which every man, who can get even a bit of chalk, can easily per- 
form. A deduction must be made for a half-fatted beast, of 1 stone in 20, from 
that of a fat one ; and, for a Cow that has had calves, 1 stone must be allowed, 
and another for not being properly fat. 

Diseases and their Treatment, 

Cattle are subject to various diseases, the result of improper treatment or of 
causes connected with climate which it is difficult to avert. By attention to feed- 
ing, housing, and cleaning, much may be done to prevent some of the more fatal 
distempers. Cattle that have passed their lives, both day and night, in the open 
air, are generally so hardy that they are not injured by a welting of the skin, 
and are liable to few of the complaints of dairy or stall-fed animals. Cows be- 
ing compelled to lead an artificial mode of life, are the most delicate in every re- 
spect, and require the most careful treatment. They should not be left out all 
night ; and, when they return from the field wet, it is always a safe and humane 
plan to dry them with a wisp of straw. The diseases to which they are most 
liable are of an inflammatory kind, and for these the veterinary surgeon prescribes 
bleeding, and perhaps some medicines to be taken internally. 

Though it is by no means our design to offer, in this work on Milch Cows, any 
thing like a general work on cattle, it is deemed well enough, besides the gen- 
eral description of the breeds most in use, to give a few recipes for the most 
common diseases of Cows and Calves. 

Of Calves, the maladies which most frequently occur are diarrhoea, and its op- 
posite, costiveness. The common diarrhoea, or scourmg, in Calves, arises gener- 
ally from irregular feeding, or other bad management. 

Nothing is more apt to disorder the bowels of the young Calf than the too 
common practice of attempting to substitute other diet for that of milk, or milk 
diet at an unnatural temperature. The young ruminant (says that high authori- 
ty, C. W. Johnson), subsisting on the milk of its mother, does not require that 
complicated system of stomachs which afterward becomes necessary for the prop- 
er comminution of its food. Accordingly we find that the aperture of the first 
and second stomach is, in the Calf, entirely closed, and the folds of the third ad- 
here together so as to form a narrow tube. The milk passes at once into the 
fourth stomach, which is the seat of true digestion. This arrangement of itself 
indicates that the food of the young animal ought to be liquid, even when it is 
deprived of the milk of its parent. It is for this reason that the weaning of the 
Calf must take place very gradually. 

For SCOURING, the same author recommends the following as an excellent 
remedy: Prepared chalk, 4 ounces; Laudanum, 1 ounce ; 

Powdered canella bark, 1 ounce; Water, 1 pint! 

Mix these together, and give two or three table-spoonsful, according to the size of the Calf, twice 
or three times a day 

COSTIVENESS IN CALVES.— For this complaint dissolve from two to four 
ounces, according to age, of Epsom salts in two quarts of water, and inject into the stomach by 
means of the stomach pump, and, in need, repeat in half doses every four hours. 

CATARRH (common), or HOOSE (common cold). — This is a common com- 
plaint, much too often neglected till it degenerates into worse disorders. 

For Cattle. — In slight cases house them, give them mashes, or a dose of physic. In more se- 
vere cases bleed, and after bleeding give — 

Epsom salts, J pound; Powdered aniseed, 2 ounces; 

Ginger, 2 drachma ; Gruel, 3 pints. 

For epidemic catarrh or influenza, bleed from tliree to five or six quarts, and give the following 
purging drench : 



Epsom salts, 1 pound ; 
Dissolve in 3 pints of warm gruel. 



Powdered coriander seeds, 1 ounce. 



Should the fever continue after the purging drench, the following fever drench must be given 
night and morning : 

Tartar emetic, 1 drachm; Nitre, 4 drachms. 

Mix and give in a quart of warm gruel. 

CLEANSING. — The after-birth or placenta should be dischars^ed soou after 
the period of calving; in case this is delayed, a dose of physic may be administered, composed of 
one pound of Epsom salts, and two drachms of ginger in some warm water or warm gruel. 
Leave the Calf with the Cow for some time after it is born. 
The following cleansing drink may be given with advantage : 

Cummin seed powder, 2 ounces ; Sulphur, 2 ounces ; 

Bay berries powdered, 1 ounce ; Turmeric. 1 ounce. 

Boil these together for ten minutes, and give the drink when cool in some gruel. 

CLYSTERS. — Clysters are medicines introduced (comnionly by a syringe) into 
the rectum of animals. The composition of the most common is as follows : 

Clys.ter for Cows. 
Epsom salts, 1 pound; Linseed oil, 8 ounces ; Water, 3 or •! (juarts. 
Very useful to assist the operation of physic drenches. 

CUD, LOSS OF — Is not a disease of itself, but is usually a symptom of vari- 
ous disorders. The following drink may be given in cases of loss of cud, when no indication of 
any particular disorder is apparent : 

Epsom salts, | pound ; Carraway seeds, powdered, 1 ounce; 

Gentian, powdered, J ounce ; Ginger, powdered, 2 drachms. 

Mix, and give in warm gruel. 

Rumination is requisite in order to keep an ox in health. A little straw or hay is accordingly 
necessary to enable it to chew the cud. We know a case in which barley-meal and boileu pota- 
toes were given to Cows without hay or straw. Constipation resulted, and the cattle nearly per- 
ished from the ignorance of the feeder. 

DIARRHCEA — Is the excessive discharge of faecal matter. It arises from va- 
rious causes, as from too much opening physic, poisonous plants, bad treatment, foul water, or 
from some peculiar state of the atmosphere. This may be treated as follows : — First give an ape- 
rient — either one pint of lin.seed oil, or, in a quart of water — 

Epsom salts, J pound ; Powdered ginger, 2 drachms. Mix for a dose. 
Afterward give the following astringent : 

Prepared chalk, 1 ounce ; Powdered opium, J drachm ; 

Powdered catechu. 3 drachms ; Powdered ginger, 2 drachms. 

Mix. and give in a quart of warm gruel. 

FLOODING — Is a discharge of blood from the uterus of the Cow, after calv- 
ing. The only remedy is to apply cold to the loins : if in warm weather, a pound of saltpetre dis- 
solved in a gallon of water will produce a vei-y cold solution. If ice can be procured, equal parts 
of snow and ice, say equal parts of each, will produce a very intense cold. If the flooding still 
continues, raise the Cow's hind parts, give two drachms of opium every hour, keep the patient 
quiet, take away her Calf 

GARGET — Arises from the inflamed and hardened state of the internal sub- 
stance of the udder of Cows. This is a complaint vi'hich is very apt to arise in young Cows. In 
the early stages of it, the best remedy is to allow her Calf to suckle, and rub about her udder. If 
this does not effect a cure, then it is generally necessary to take away a little blood, and after- 
ward to give the following drench : 

Epsom salts, 1 pound ; Aniseed powdered, 1 ounce ; Warm water, 3 pints. 
The uddor to be bathed with hot water three times a day, and after each bathing to be well 
rubbed with the following ointment : 

Yellow basilicon, 4 ounces ; Camphor, 1 ounce, rubbed down with a little spirits of wine ; 
Strong mercurial ointment, 2 ounces; Soft soap. 16 ounces. Rub these well together. 
In very ob.slinate cases I have found the following successful : 

Hydriodate of potash, 1 drachm, rubbed into very fine powder and mixed with 1 ounce of 
spermaceti ointment. 

After bathing with hot water, a piece of the size of a small nutrjeg should be well rubbed in, 
night and morning. 

- KICKS, AND OTHER BRUISES.— Foment the parts copiously and frequent- 

ly for some time with hot water; if the skin is broken, apply the following tincture : 

Friar's bals.im, 2 ounces; Tin'cture of aloes and myrrh, 2 ounces. Mix for use. 
MISCARRIAGE. — The usual period of gestation in a Cow is two hundred 
and seventy days, or nine calendar months ; but there is much variation in the time of the Cow 
being with calf According to M. Tessier, iu eleven hundred and thirty-one Cows upon which his 
observations were made, the shortest period was two hundred and forty, and the longest three 
hundred and twenty-one — being a variation of eighty-one days ; or. reckoning from nine months, 
fifty one days over, and thirty-one days under. Of five hundred and seventy-five Covv.s, he found 
twenty-one calved between the two hundred and fortieth and two hundred and seventieth day ; 
five hundred and Ibrty-four between the two hundred and seventieth and two hundred and ninety- 
ninth, and ten between the two hundred and ninety-ninth and three hundred and twenty-first 
day. It has been remarked that the Cow goes longer with a bull calf than with a cow calf. Of 
seven hundred and sixty-four Cows, noted by Lord Spencer fJonr. Royd Aqri. Soc, vol. i., p. 
165), two hundred and twenty days was the shorte.st period when a live calf was produced, and 
t'wo hundred and forty-two days the shortest period when the calf was reared ; three hundred 
and thirteen days was the longest period he remarked a Cow to be in calf; three hundred and 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



fourteen Cows calved before the two hundred and eighty-fourth day, and three hundred and ten 
after the two hundred and eighty-eighth day. 

Miscarriage occurs oftener in the Cow than in all other domestic animals put together. Per- 
haps it is one of the greatest annoyances the proprietor of Cows has to encounter ; and unfor- 
tunately, for aught we see to the contrary, it is likely so to continue; for, in spite of the improved 
state of veterinary medicine, and the researches of skillful veterinary' surgeons, both at home and 
abroad, miscarriage still continues as frequent and annoying as ever. The causes are frequently 
involved in obscurity ; but it may be mentioned that an extremely hot and foul cow-house, a severe 
blow, violent exertion, starvation, plethora, an overloaded stomach, internal inflammations, con- 
stipated bowels, bad food or water, improper exposure and the like, will now and then produce 
miscarria"'e. Anything whatever, indeed, that seriously affects llie health of the animal in general, 
or the state of the reproductive organs in particular, may do so. But miscarriage occurs again and 
again when no such causes as those enumerated can be traced. The disease, if such it may be called 

as I think it may — is even said to be infectious. No sooner does it show itself in one animal than 

it is seen in another, and another, till it has spread over the most part of the cow-house. Some say 
this is to be attributed to the odor arising from the substances evacuated. Possibly it may be so ; 
there is nothing unreasonable in the supposition ; for although we cannot perceive the smell, nor 
account for its peculiar influence, it is still quite within possibility that such an odor does exist, 
having the power attributed to it. There can be no great harm, however, in acting as if we were 
assured that the mischief has its origin in the source so commonly supposed, provided we do not 
shut oureyestoany other which accident or investigation may reveal. In the meantime, the num- 
ber of miscarriages may be diminished by carefully avoiding all those causes which are known to 
be capable of producing it. Let the Cows be regularly fed ; let their food be good and in proper 
quantities; let them have water as often as they will take it; avoid sudden exposure to cold or 
heat ; and, above all, let the cowhouse be well ventilated. Prohibit all manner of rough usage 
on the part of those who look after the Cows, whether they be pregnant or not. If any of them 
accumulate flesh too rapidly, gradually reduce their allowance; and, on the other hand, if any be- 
come emaciated, discover the cause, and remedy it, always by slow degrees. Sudden changes in 
the matter or mode of feeding should also be avoided. The same sort of diet does not agree 
equally well with all the Cows; and this, in general, is indicated by undue relaxation or constipa- 
tion of the bowels : this should be watched, and removed at once. Attention to these and many 
other minor circumstances will amply repay the proprietor for the little additional trouble. 

" When the fanner perceives symptoms of miscarriage, he should," says Profes.sor Yonatt, in 
his excellent work on Cattle, "remove the Cow from the pasture to a comfortable cow- 
house or shed. If the discharge is glaring, but not offensive, he may hope that the calf is not 
dead — he will be assured of this by the motion of the ftt'tus, and then it is impossible that the mis- 
carriage may yet be avoided. He should hasten to bleed her, and that copiously, in proportion to 
her age, size, condition, and the state of excitement in which he may find her ; and he should give 
a dose of physic immediately after the bleeding (this may be 1 lb. of Epsom salts in a quart of 
warm water). The physic beginning to operate, he should administer half a drachm of opium, 
and half an ounce of sweet spirits of nitre ; unless she is in a state of great debility, he should 
avoid, above all things, the comfortable drink which some per.sons recommend ; he should allow 
nothing but gruel, and keep his patient as quiet as he can. By these means he may occa.sionally 
allay the general or local irritation that precedes or causes the mi.scarriage, and the Cow may yet 
go her full time." 

WOMB INFLAMMATION.— This affection of the womb occurs after calving 

or bulling. The symptoms are, great irritation and pain. Bleed and give the following drench : 
Epsom salts, 1 pound ; Powdered carraway seeds, 2 ounces; Warm gruel, 3 pints. 
Bathe the womb with Goulard water, or vinegar and water in equal parts. 



CALVING TABLE. 



Day bulled. 


Will calve. 


Day bulled. 


Will calve. 


Day bulled. 


Will calve. 


Day bulled. 


Will calTe. 


Jan. 1 


Oct. 8 


April 1 


Jan. 6 


July 1.... 


April 7 


Oct. 1 


....July 9 


" 7 . 


" 14 

■' 21 


" 7 


. .. " 12 


" 7 


" 13 


" 7 

" 14.... 


" 15 


" 14 


•' 14.... 


.... " 19 


" 14 


.... " 20 


.... " 22 


•' 21 


" 28 


" 21 


" 26 


" 21.... 


■' 28 


" 21 


"1 22 


" 28 


Nov. 4 


" 28.... 


....Feb. 2 


" 28.... 


May 4 


" 28 


Aug. 5 


" 31 


" 7 


" 30 


.... " 4 


" 31 


" 8 


" 31 


" 8 


Feb.l 


" 8 


May 1.... 


.... " 5 


Aug. 1 


.... " 9 


Nov. I.... 


.... " 9 


" 7 


" 14 


" 7.... 


•' 11 


" 7 


" 15 


" 7.... 


" 15 


" 14 


" 21 


" 14 


.... " 18 


" 14 


.... " 22 


" 14.... 


.... " 21 


" 21 


" 28 


" 21 


" 25 


" 21 


. . . . " 29 


'• 21 


" 29 


" 28 


Dec. 5 


" 28 


Mar. 4 


" 28.... 


June 5 


" 28... 


....Sept. 5 


Mar. 1 


" 6 


" 31.... 


" 7 


" 31 


.... " 8 


" 30.... 


" 7 


" 7 


" 12 




" 8 


Sept. 1.... 

" 7 


" 9 


Dec. .1... 


" 8 


" 14 


" 19 


" 7 


" 14 


.... " 15 


" 7... 


.... " 21 


" 21 


" 26 


" 14 


" 21 


" 14.... 


" 22 


" 14... 


.... " 21 


" 28 


Jan. 2 


" 21.... 


" 28 


" 21.... 


" 29 


" 21... 


" 28 


" 31 


" 5 


" 28 


April 4 


" 28 


July 6 


" 28... 


....Oct. 5 






" 30.... 


" 6 


" 30.... 


.... " 8 


" 31... 


" 8 



TREATISE. 



ON 



MILCH cows: 

WHEREBY 

THE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF MILK WHICH ANY COW WILL GIVE 

MAY BE ACCUilATELY DETERMINED, 
Br 

OBSERVtNG NATURAL MAKKS, OR EXTERNAL INDICATIONS ALONE ; 

THE LENGTH OF TIME SHE WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE MILK, 

&c. &c. 

By M. FRANCIS GUENON, France. 

Tfanslated from the French of the Author, for the Fanners' Library, 

By N. P. TRIST, late U. S. Consul at Havana. 



THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER. 

Nonsense ! Who can believe any such thing ? What ! by merely looking at a 
cow, to be able to tell how much milk she is capable of being made to yield ; 
and, also, how long she can continue to give milk after being got with calf! — 
to be able thus to ascertain, not only what are the qualities of a full grown cow, 
but what are to be the qualities of any heiier-calf, by looking at her while yet 
but two or three months old I Surely, if ever there was a humbug, this is one. 

Sofcly, Mr. Reader ! You are very incredulous, no doubt, but I defy you to be 
more so than I was when in your present position. What is more, I defy you 
to cling to your skepticism over an hour or so. However strong and firm it may 
be at this moment, it will, in a little while, have vanished into nothing ; and its 
place will be filled by another solid proof in addition to the many you must al- 
ready have stored up, that 

" There are more things in heaven and earth , 

Th;in are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

When this discovery was first mentioned to me, as one which had recently 
been published in France, I smiled at the credulity of some people. My informant, 
perceiving what effect the announcement had upon me, said, " It is so, however ;" 
and then, nothing but politeness toward a stranger, for the first time under my 
roof, prevented my replying, " You do not really believe this to be possible." 

He offered to send me the book; and, though I had not the least idea of 
throwing away my time in reading it, civility would not allow me to decline. 
It came, and I opened it with the intention merely of looking into it sufficiently 
to say that I had done so. When, however, in turning the pages over, I saw 
that this piece of quackery, as I felt very sure the pretended discovery must be, 
had engaged the attention of distinguished Agricultural Societies in France, and 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



had earned " Gold Medals " for its author, in a country where they are not prone 
to be lavish of such substantial marks of approbation, my curiosity was awakened, 
and I had soon read enough to bring home to me once more, for the thousandth 
time, that homely old truth, " We live to learn." 

Since then, many things have occurred to strengthen my confidence in the re- 
ality of this discovery, and in its high practical value to all interested in the pre- 
servation and improvement of milk stock — and who is it that is not interested in 
its productiveness ? The most recent of these incidents is as follows : 

A friend to whom I had lent the translation accompanied, with the plates which 
are requisite to make it intelligible, showed it to a mantrom the country whose 
calling had rendered him quite conversant with th« subject of cattle. This per- 
son's curiosity was so far awakened, that, beside attending to the explanations 
made to him, he took a sketch of some of the escutcheons. After an absence of 
some weeks, he returned to the city where this had happened, and came to see 
my friend. " That thing (said he) is as true as a book. There is no mistake 
about the matter. Since I was here, I have looked at more cows than ever you 
saw, and I am perfectly satisfied that the thing is just as the Frenchman says. 
I have become convinced, too, of another thing : that our breeds of cattle are by 
no means the great things they are cracked up to be." N. P. T. 

Washington City, January. 1846. 




TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY. 



To give the history of my discovery, I must speak of myself. My narrative 
shall be succinct and short, although my labors have been protracted. But this 
is a condition attached to discoveries generally ; we must meditate long upon 
what an instant has sufficed to reveal or suggest to us. It will be seen that, in 
my case, difficulties w ere always renewing. 

I am the son of a gardener, and I followed for a long time this trade of my 
forefathers. Nature had given me an observing turn of mind ; I was fond of 
bringing things together — of instituting comparisons between them — of deducing 
consequences. At an early period I became possessed by the idea that I was 
destined to make some important discovery in the branch of industry which I fol- 
lowed. Was this the suggestion of mere vanity ? Be it as it may, the thought 
took root in my mind, and became for me a fixed idea. With a view to arriving 
at this wished-for discovery, I studied the works of the best writers on Botany 
and Agriculture ; I learned Geometry and the art of Drawing, so far as it seemed 
necessary to me. I followed up all the ramifications of the vegetable kingdom, 
and applied myself to the study of the external signs by which plants and vege- 
tables of different sorts might be distinguished, and their qualities and product- 
iveness might be known beforehand. 

To do this was to accomplish a good deal, no doubt ; but my mind, still pos- 
sessed by the idea of the great future discovery, was never at rest. I Was, like 
Ahasuerus, under the hand of the angel ; a voice within was constantly crying 
out, " Go on ! " and I felt myself impelled forward ; hut I had no glimpse of the 
goal to which I was tending. 

Chance led to the discovery of the famous Tyrian purple ; to chance also is 
due an observation which was the germ of my discovery, and constitutes the ba- 
sis of my method. When fourteen years of age, I used, according to country cus- 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



torn, to drive our only Cow to the grazing ground. I was very fond of her, and 
could have identified her among ever so many. One day, as I was whiling away 
the time in cleaning and scratching my poor old companion, I noticed that a sort 
of bran or dandruf detached itself in considerable quantities from certain spots on 
her hind parts, formed by the meeting of the hair, as it grew in opposite direc- 
tions ; which spots I have since called ears, from the resemblance they often bear 
to the bearded ears or heads of wheat or rye.* This fact attracted my attention, 
and I recollected having heard one of my grandfathers say that it was probable 
there were external marks on Cows, whereby their good qualities or their defects 
might be known — ^just as we judge of the vital force of a plant and its qualities 
by means of its leaves and the lines on its skin. My own thoughts now took 
this turn. Reflecting on the subject, I arrived at the conclusion that if, in the 
vegetable kingdom, there exist external signs, whereby the good and the bad 
qualities of a plant can be positively known, there ought to exist in the animal 
kingdom, also, marks whereby we may judge, by inspecting an animal, of its 
qualities, good and bad ; and I thought that I had discovered one of these signs. 

All this, however, was as yet but mere speculation — a brilliant theory, which 
experience might belie : it was necessary to interrogate Nature. The Cow which 
I tended was a good milker. I have already said that I knew her perfectly. I 
examined other Cows within my reach, to see if I should find the same signs in 
them. I sought for the bearded ears {quirls), and scratched those spots in quest 
of dandruf; the abundance or the scarcity of this being what first engaged my 
attention. Every new Cow was Compared with my own as a standard, and her 
superiority, equality or inferiority determined in my own mind. 

From this moment I spared nothing to follow up ray observations ; no fatigue 
was too great for me ; I have often traveled several leagues in order to examine 
a single Cow. What was my exultation when, after I had formed my judgment 
of a Cow, the questions with which I belabored her owner brought forth answers 
that corroborated its accuracy ! How often has it happened that people were 
convinced that the animal whose qualities I was pronouncing upon must have 
been previously known to me ! My secret was the cause of astonishment to ma- 
ny ; I took good care to keep it to myself. 

In the course of the comparisons thus instituted by me, with reference to the 
dandruf alone, which was at first the only thing that governed me, I had occasion 
to remark that great diversities existed among Cows, in respect to the shape of 
the bearded ears {quirls) which produced the dandruf. This suggested a new 
train of reflections and observations, which resulted in my becoming con- 
vinced that these shapes were the signs by which to distinguish Cows, and to 
know the good and bad qualities of every individual among them. From that 
moment my discovery was made ; but it was necessary to digest it into a system 
— above all, to establish its accuracy in all its parts, by proofs which should car- 
ry my own conviction into the minds of others. It was here that all my courage 
and perseverance was put in requisition. 

It did not suffice to have discovered signs that were characteristic of difi'erent 
sorts of C&ws ; it was necessary to make sure that tlie same mark might always 
be relied upon as a positive and certain sign of the same perfection or defect. — 



* These mai-ks arc, in some pans of our country, called q^drls. Their occurrence in horses (paiticularly 
on the neck, under the mane) is well known to be a sign of blood. This is a remarkable coincidence ; and 
it seems far ti-om improbable that the discovery made by the author in regard to neat cattle will lead to sim- 
ilEir discoveries respecting other domestic animals. [American Translator. 

(786) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



This could not be effected except by studying a vast number of individuals — by 
comparing them together — taking into consideration the countries from which 
they came — their stature — their yield. This was not all : they had to be classed. 
Conceive what toil this task involved for me, a plain child of Nature, who had 
no idea of such a classification, and found myself under the necessity of establish- 
ing one. The endeavor was one to absorb me entirely ; I gave up my calling ; 
I traveled about, visiting cattle markets, fairs, cow-stables ; I questioned and 
cross-questioned all who might be expected to know most on the subject — hus- 
bandmen, dealers in cattle, men of the veterinary profession ; I became convinced 
that my discovery had not been anticipated by any one. The marks for distin- 
guishing a good Cow from a bad one varied according to the notions of each indi- 
vidual. Some looked to the shape of the horns — others upon that of the udder ; 
some judged by the shape of the animal, or the color of her hair — others were 
determined in their choice by something else. But, in these various modes of 
judging, all was vague and uncertain. I became confirmed in the belief that I 
had made the important discovery of signs that were positive and certain ; and, 
in order the better to satisfy myself of the solidity of the ground upon which my 
method was to rest, I took the precaution to return to the same localities at dif- 
ferent times and seasons, that I might trace and ascertain the effects which might 
attend these variations of Nature. All my observations were accurately noted 
down ; and I could at length flatter myself with having acquired a mass of facts 
which gave solidity and consistence to my system, and imparted the character of 
positive certainty to that which at first had been but a probable conjecture. 

In 1822, I began to deal in cattle on my own account. This trade brought un- 
der ray eyes a great number and variety of Cows from all quarters — from Switz- 
erland, Holland, Brittany, Poitou, &c, &c. ; and I had better opportunities than 
before for thoroughly examining the marks of these different races. My obser- 
vations were multiplied, and I became convinced anew that all individuals pos- 
sessing the same marks belonged to the same family, whatever might be the 
country of their birth ; that these marks were an infallihle indication of the same 
degree of superiority or inferiority ; in a word, that Nature, always consistent 
with herself, acted, at all times and places, in the same way, and was always 
governed by the same laws. 

For between seven and eight years, I had been incessantly engaged in estab- 
lishing order among my observations, and arranging the results into one consist- 
ent whole. I established a classification, founded upon the shape or outline of 
the different marks : Cows were first divided into classes or families ; then, in 
each of these classes, there was a threefold division, according to size — the tall 
or high, the medium, and the loiv ; finally, each class was subdivided into orders, 
according to the diminution and the deformity of the distinctive mark of the class, 
as found in the different individuals belonging to it. This task was an immense 
one for me, and cost me a degree of trouble and an expenditure of time, of which 
a conception may be formed by considering how many comparisons and combina- 
tions were necessary to a person so unversed in scientific methods, before my ma- 
terials could be reduced to order, and I could form a distinct and precise idea of 
my own discovery. 

These difficulties, which might have disheartened any other person, did not 
discourage me. A system was to be created, and I created it. In 1S2S, I ad- 
dressed to the Academy of Bordeaux a request, having for its object that my 
method should be examined and reported upon. I v/as not yet willing to disclose 

(787) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



my secret entirely ; my object was to get the reality of my discovery and its re- I 
suits attested to. Tlie Academy, without adopting my conclusions, did neverthe- J 
less make honorable mention of me, at its sitting of the 3d of June foUowmg, in < 

these terms : j 

"M. Francis Guenon, of Liboume, possessor of a method which he deems infallible forjudg- J 

ing, by mere visual examination, of the goodness of Milch Cows, and the quantity of milk which i 

each can yield, has solicited the Academy to cause the efficaciousness of this method to be tested < 

by repeated experiments. The case presented by this request was one of a secret method of | 

judging, which the possessor was not willing to reveal. On the other hand, it seemed difficult to * 

admit that the extenial signs, whatever they might be, by which M. Guenon judges, could al- i 

ways bear a proportional relation to the quantity of milk yielded by a Cow. Nevertheless, the ^ 

Academy deemed it proper to appoint a Committee charged with making the examination. | 

"Trials have been made, with the care and under the precautions necessary for precluding all ^ 

collusion. The Cows used for the purpose belonged to three different herds, and amounted to < 

thirty in number , and the result has been to establish, to the satisfaction of the Committee, that J 

M. Guenon really possesses great sagacity in this line. So long, however, as his method shall be i 

kept secret, it cannot be judged of nor rewarded by the Academy. ' 

" Governed by these considerations, the Academy, having ascertained fi'om M. Guenon that he , 
is willing to submit to every test that may be proposed, and to disclose his secret upon receiving 
a just indemnity, has referred him to the Prefect, and has engaged to recommend him to the fa- 
vorable notice of that magistrate, who is ever disposed to promote all that tends to improvement." 

Here the matter rested at that time. I did not then make up my mind to give 
my secret to the public ; but I persevered in my observations and experiments, 
in order to perfect my discovery. In 1837, the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux 
determined to ascertain for itself what reality there might be in my system. — 
The result surpassed its expectation ; the experiments made, in presence of the 
Committee appointed for the purpose, left no doubt as to the certainty of my 
method. Here are the terms in which the Committee expressed themselves in 
their report : 

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF BORDEAUX. 

GUENON DISCOVERY .... MILCH COWS. 
Report to the Agricultural Society of Bordeauxi 

Gentlemen : The Committee appointed by you to examine into the discoveries of M. Francis 
Guenon. of Liboume, have the honor to submit to you the result of their investigations. 

M. Guenon has established a natural method, by means of which it is easy to recognize aaid 
class tlie different kinds of Milch Cows, according to 

1st. The quantity of milk which they can yield daily. 

2d. The period during which they will continue to give milk. 

3d. Tlie quality of their milk. 

Down to the present day. Gentlemen, the writers and professors who have the most particu- 
larly occupied themselves with the bovine race have been unable to do anything more than indi- 
cate some vague signs forjudging of the fitness of Cows for secreting milk. 

After more than twenty years of observations and researches, M. Guenon has succeeded at 
length in discovering certain natural and positive signs, which constitute the basis of his method ; 
a method henceforward proof against all error. 

Sensible of the necessity that your Committee should be fully convinced, and that they could 
not but look with some degree of distrust upon any results of the proposed trials of his method, 
unless they should know that those results rested upon tangible facts, and were nowise depend- 
ent upon guess work, M. Guenon began by imparting his secret to your Committee, and making 
them fully acquainted with the positive signs upon which he has founded his method. By means 
of these signs, which are all external and apparent, he has established eight classes or families, 
which embrace all the varieties of the Cow that are to be met with in the different parts of this 
kingdom. Each of these classes or families is subdivided into eight orders. It is divided, also, 
into three sections, so that each of the sections comprehends the eight orders ; this last division 
(788) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



having: reference merely to the size of the Cows, and serving to distinguish animals which, 
being the same in respect to the characteristic signs that serve to fix the class and the order to 
which they belong, differ in bight alone, and in their yield so far only as this is dependent upon 
size. 

By means of this classification, which is no less clear and distinct than simple, we are enabled, 

1st. To distinguish with ease, in any herd of Cows, each individual comprised in it, according to 
the quantity of -milk which she is capable of yielding — ^from twenty-six quarts a day down to next 
to nothing, and all intermediate quantities. 

2d. To know the qualities of the milk which each will give, as being creamy or serous. 

3d. To determine during what time, after being got with calf, the Cow will continue to give 
milk. 

This method — so precious, from the application of which it is susceptible, whether we be con- 
cerned in the yield of milk only, or whether we avail ourselves of it for the improvement of breeds, 
which are constantly liable to deterioration from mismanagement in crossing — acquires a new in- 
terest when we consider that it is applicable, not to full grown animals alone, but also to calves at 
so early an age as three months. Thus, on the one hand, it affords the means of forming a sure 
judgment of full gi-own animals, in regard to which we are often misled, by their forai and then- 
parentage, to entertain great expectations which are never realized ; and, on the other hand, it se- 
cures the improvement of herds, by enabling us to dispose at once of those calves which can nev- 
er repay the trouble and cost of rearing them. 

This important end, hitherto so vainly aimed at, had it at length been attained ? To ascertain 
this point is the duty with which your Committee were charged. The method of M. Gu^non 
having been revealed to them, it remained to ascertain how far tlie essential signs upon which it 
rests might be susceptible of rigorous application. 

With this view they passed several days in visiting a number of pasture fields, situated in local- 
ities that differed from each other, in order that the experiments might be made upon animals of 
different breeds, and under varying circumstances. They deem it proper to enter here into some 
details respecting their mode of proceeding, persuaded that you will thereby be the better enabled 
to understand 'and appreciate the merits of this method, and to fonn a correct judgment of the ex- 
tent to which your protection is due to a discovery, which is submitted to you by the author with 
the greater confidence, because it bears directly upon the prosperity of the agriculturist. 

Every Cow subjected to examination was separated from the rest. What M. Gu6non had to 
say in regard to her was taken down in writing by one of the Committee ; and immediately after 
the proprietor, who had kept at a distance, was inten-ogated, and such questions put to him as 
would tend to confinn or disprove the judgment pronounced by M. Guenon. In this way we 
have examined, in the most careful manner — note being taken of every fact and evei-y observation 
made by any one present — upward of sixty Cows and Heifers ; and we are bound to declai'o 
that every statement made by M, Guenon with respect to each of them, whether it regarded the 
quantity of milk, or the time during which the Cow continued to give milk after being got with 
calf, or, finally, the quality of the milk as being more or less creamy or serous, was confinued, and 
its accuracy fully established. The only discrepancies which occurred were some slight differ- 
ences in regard to the quantity of milk ; but these, as we afterward fully satisfied ourselves, 
were caused entirely by the food of the animal being more or less abundant. 

The results of this first test seemed conclusive ; but they acquired new force from those of a sec- 
ond trial, in which the method was subjected to another test, through RI. Guenon and his brother. 
Your Committee, availing themselves of the presence of the latter, caused the same Cows to be 
examined by the two brothers, but separately ; so that, after a Cow had been inspected, and her 
qualities, as indicated by the signs in question, had been pronounced upon by one of the brothers, 
he was made to withdraw ; then the other brother, who had kept aloof, was called up, and desired 
to state the qualities of the same animal. This mode of proceeding could not faU to give rise to 
differences — to contradictions, even — between the judgments of the two brothers, unless their 
method was a positive and sure one. Well ! Gentlemen, we must say it — this last test was abso- 
lutely decisive : not only did the various judgments of the two brothers accord perfectly together, 
but tliey were in perfect accordance, also, with all that was said by the proprietors in regard to 
the qualities, good and bad, of every animal subjected to this examination. 

To the proprietors and to the bystanders, all this was the more surprising, from the fact that the 

examination was no less prompt than its results were certain. It was, however, easy to perceive 

that they, ignorant as they were of the nature of the discoverj', had but little confidence in it ; and 

that they ascribed tlie cunning of M. Guenon simply to a great practical familiarity with Cows. 

(789) 



As to ourselves — for whom, as we have already informed you, Gentlemen, the method was no long- 
er a secret — it was with constantly renewing feelings of interest and astonishment that we fol- 
lowed up these examinations and contemplated the accuracy of their results. Two members 
particularly of the Committee, whom their special pursuits and tlieir physiological knowledge of 
domestic animals entitle to great confidence, had, from the very first examination, been strtick 
with the truth and strength of the system, the successful applications of which were multiplying 
under our eyes. This system. Gentlemen, we do not fear to say it, is infallible. The signs upon 
which it is founded, ever constant, invariable in the place which they occupy, are strongly impress- 
ed upon the animal by the hand of Nature. To appreciate them becomes an easy task ; all that 
is requisite being, after having examined the animal and ascertained what marks she bears, to ex- 
amine the drawings and fix upon the one in which those same marks appear. Then, by means 
of a brief but precise explanation which refers to that drawing, the qualities of the animal under 
examination become known, and the class and order to which she naturally belongs are indicated. 
It is by proceeding thus — by examining, first, the marks upon the animal, and then seeking among 
the drawings for the one in which those marks were repi-oduced — that the members of your Com- 
mittee, after witnessing the first ejcperiment, have been able themselves to apply the system, and 
to form judgments which were afterward corroborated in the same way that those of M. Guenon 
were. 

In the hight of our admiration, Gentlemen, it was a subject of lively regret that the whole Soci- 
ety were not present ; but we have the consolation of hoping that each of yon will soon experi- 
ence the pleasure which we have enjoyed, and have it in his power to apply tliis discovery to his 
own use and benefit. M. Gu^non is not disposed to keep it secret ; he proposes, so soon as a list 
of three thousand subscribers shall liave been filled, to publish a work, in which his system, com- 
pletely developed, shall be placed in the strongest light. The distinctive signs of each class and 
each order will be exactly described, and accurately represented by engraved or lithographic 
drawings j and the quantity of milk which each description of Cow is capable of yielding will be 
stated. 

By means of this faithful guide, which is within the capacity of every understanding, errors 
will be dispelled, and the ability to form correct judgments of Cows will become common to all 
classes o husbandmen. Before long, none but Cows and Bulls of the first order will be used to 
breed from ; this race of animals, which has become degenerate through bad crosses, wiU be ele- 
vated ; and, as in other species of domestic animals, individuals of pure blood will be readily ob- 
tainable. Then, guided by sure and positive knowledge respecting the future qualities of young 
Cattle, we shall no longer rear, at great expense for three or four years, a Calf whose secretion of 
milk can never bo otherwise than small in quantity and poor in quality ; while, on the other hand, 
we shall no longer blindly consign to the butcher, young animals that would repay all the care 
that could be bestowed upon them. 

These considerations will, we feel persuaded. Gentlemen, determine you to encourage M. Gne- 
non to the publication and dissemination of a metliod which promises to be so useful to the agri- 
culturist. How many poor families, in the neighborhood of large cities, where there is always a 
great consumption of milk, find in a small number of Cows the means of their subsistence ! How 
extensive a branch of trade is supported by tlie production of butter and cheese in many of oar 
Provinces — Brittany, Normandy, the Pyrenees, and others ! Holland and Switzerland, those conn- 
tries of fine pastures, are they not indebted to this branch of husbandry for a prosperity which is 
ever reproducing itself and never wearing out — a prosperity less rapid, less brilliant, perhaps, 
than that which results from adventurous traffic, but safer at least for those who depend upon it ; 
which is never deceptive ; which, more than any other, attaches man to his country, and fevors 
morality, and seems sheltered from those political tempests which, in other lands, so often prostrate 
the tallest fortunes. 

[Signed] GUICHENET, Veterinary Professor of tJie Dtpartmmt, 

LECONTE, 
F. PELISSIER. 

After the reading of this Heport, the Society decreed as follows : 
1st. That a gold medal be awarded to M. Francis Guenon. 
2d. That he be proclaimed a Member of this Society. 
3d. That fifty copies of his work on Milch Cows be subscribed for. 

4th. That a thousand copies of the B,eport be printed for distribution among the Agricultaral 
Societies of France. 
(790) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



The foregoing proceedings took place at the General Meeting of the Society, at the House of 
the Prefecture, on the 4th of July. 
A true extract. 

[Signed] ^ RICHIER, Secretary General of the Society. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF AURILLAC. 

At its General Meeting of the 26th May, the following Report was pre- 
sented and read on the subject of the experiments which I had been called upon 
to make : 

Report. 

Gentlemen: M. Francis Guenon, a husbandman of Liboume, has established a method, deem- 
ed by him infallible, by means of which, upon a mere inspection of any Milch Cow, she may be 
judged of, and we may know the quality of her milk, the quantity of it which she is capable of 
yielding, and also the time during which she can give mUk. 

A Committee appointed by the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux, and composed of several well 
Laformed agriculturists, and of a very distinguished Professor of the Veterinary art of the Depart- 
ment of Gironde, had already borne testimony, after putting it to numerous tests, to the efficacious- 
ness of the system of M. Guenon ; and the result of its observations had been published in a very 
remarkable Report, addressed to all the Agricultural Societies of France. 

Your Society, considering that this discovery might be of high importance to our country, which 
derives its income chiefly from the product of Milch Cows, entered into correspondence with its 
author, and gladly accepted hie obliging ofTer to come to Auvergne and subject his method to the 
test of experiment. 

Yesterday, the 25th of May, M. Guenon arrived at Aurillac, and immediately proceeded with 
the members of your Committee to the Veyrac farm, belonging to the President of the Society. — 
He examined with the utmost care the fine cow-stable of tliat domain, which embraces one hun- 
dred Cows, of the best varieties that we possess. He then began his experiments upon a number 
of Cows which were presented to him, and which had designedly been selected from among the 
best, the moderately good, and the most indifferent of the establishment. Upon each of these sep- 
arately, M. Guenon pronounced with precision, both in regard to her daily yield of milk, and to 
the time during which she continued to give milk after being got with calf We must acknow- 
ledge. Gentlemen, that his decisions corresponded almost invariably with the statements obtained 
from the persons in whose charge the Cows are. The only variances we had to notice were some 
very slight ones in regard to the quantity of milk. On this point, we must call your attention to 
the fact that the Cows of that establishment are always fed high, upon clover or other artificial 
grasses which considerably augment the quantity of milk ; and that this may have caused the mis- 
take of M. Guenon, vi'hich consisted in his pronouncing tlie yield to be a little less than it really is. 
It is to be remarked that he was totally unacquainted with the usages of the country in regard to 
the feeding of Cattle. 

In order thoroughly to convince your Committee of the reality of the discovery, M. Guenon 
made us acquainted with tlie different signs upon which his method rests. With reference to 
these signs, which are external and apparent, and stamped by the hand of Nature upon each ani- 
mal, he has established eight classes or families, that comprehend all the varieties of the Cow found 
in the various Provinces of France. Each class is divided into eight orders ; and each of these 
orders into three sections, according to size, as being high, of medium bight, and low. 

According to the numerous observations of tlie author, all Cows belong to some one of these 
classes or famiUes, and take their place under some one of the eight orders of the class. Each 
class possesses marks differing in shape and size from those of the other classes ; and these marks 
are easy to distinguish, on merely looking at them. In each class, the Cows of the first orders are 
the best of the class, and the yield of milk is in proportion to the order ; so that the two higher or- 
ders are the most productive, the third and fourth orders tolerably good, and the oUiers falling off , 
more and more, according to their grade. ' 

M. Guenon applied his system, in our presence, to a number of Cows which were presented to 
' him a second time ; he made us remark their various signs, which differed in size and shape, and i 
were larger or smaller according as the Cow was a good or a bad milker. He informed us that ' 
I his system is equally applicable to young animals, and that their future qualities in regard to the ! 
(791) 



production of milk can be jndged of with equal certainty. In corroboration of tliis, he caused us 
to notice the same signs upon Calves three or four montlis old, and also upon Bulls destined for 
the next coverin" season. The cowherds stated that the Calves which had been assigned by him 
to the first orders were from Cows that gave a great deal of milk. Upon two splendid Bulls, of 
the fine breed of Salers, which were of the same age, and exactly alike in hair and size, M. Gue- 
non passed very diflerent judgments: the one he pronounced good, and assigned to the first order 
of his Flanders class; the other he pronounced bad, and assigned to the fifth order of his Hori- 
zontal class.* He justified these judgments by very precise comparisons, and made us remark 
the difference that existed in the signs of the two animals. 

This day, the 26th of May, M. Guenon has made new experiments at the Cattle Fair of the town 
of Aurillac, in presence of several members of the Central Agricultural Society and of the Sub- 
Societies, and of a great number of land-owners and agriculturists of Cantal and the neighboring 
Departments. The following is the mamier in which your Committee have thought proper to 
proceed. Each Cow was examined separately by M. Guenon, who wrote his notes upon her, 
and delivered the paper, closed, to one of us. Immediately after, another member of the Commit- 
tee questioned the owner of the Cow, or the person in charge of her, in regard to her daily yield 
of milk, its quality, and the time during which she continued to give milk after being got witli 
calf The answers were taken down in writing, and then compared with the notes written by 
M. Guenon. They were generally found to accord, and proved, to the satisfaction of your Com- 
mittee and of every one present — all of whom attended with lively interest to these proceedings — 
that M. Guenon possesses great sagacity in judging of Cattle, and that his method rests upon a 
sure foundation. 

An incident occurred to confirm us in this opinion. A farmer played the trick of bringing up 
for examination a Cow that had already been examined and pronounced upon. The notes writ- 
ten by M. Guenon on this occasion accorded exactly, in every respect, with those he had written 
on the former. 

The method of M. Guenon has not the merit of being a brilliant theorj". It rests upon facts and 
long experience. It is only after repeated trials, and twenty-five years of toilsome researches, 
that its author has accomplished the task of establishing it. 

We are of opinion. Gentlemen, that M. Guenon ought to be encouraged by you in the publica- 
tion of a system which appears to us destined to exercise a happy influence on the advancement 
of one of the most important branches of rural economy. What immense adrantages may there 
not result, particularly in Auvergne, where the raising of Cattle and the manufacture of cheese 
constitute the chief branch of industry, from a method which should enable us to distinguish, in a 
sure way, between good and bad Cows? By applying this system to Calves and to Bulls, oar 
stock would rapidly be raised to a high point of excellence, and we should soon have in our 
mountains none but Cows of the best kind. 

In view of all these considerations, your Committee have the honor to propose — 

1st. That there be awarded to M. Guenon a gold medal, with the effigy of Olivibr d.e Serrks. 

2d. That he he proclaimed a Corresponding member of the Society. 

3d. To subscribe for twenty-five copies of his work, for distribution among the Sub-Societies 
of the department. 

4tb. To cause this Report to be inserted in the Agricultural Propagator, and to transmit 
a copy to aU the Prefects and Agricultural Societies of France. 

[Signed] COUNT SAIGNES, 

G. DE LALAUBIE, 
GENERAL BARON HUGONET. 
V. DE PRUINES, Reporter of the Committee. 

Note. — At the same sitting, the recommendations of the Committee were adopted by the Central Society 
of Agriculture of Cantal. 

With this highly flattering testiinony in hand, I now come forward to publish 
the result of my silent meditations and toilsome studies. Every one will be able, 
with the aid of the lithographic drawings attached to the work, readily to recog- 
nize the distinctive marks of the animal examined by him. These marks are 
visible upon the posterior part of every Cow, in the space embraced between the 

* See the names of the several classes, in the chapter On the different kinds of Cows. 
1792) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



udder and the vulva. They consist of a kind of escutcheons of various shapes 
and sizes, formed by the hair growing in different directions, and bounded by 
lines where these different growths of hair meet. The varieties of these escutch- 
eons mark the different classes and orders of Cows. 

It is upon these signs that every one may rest his judgment, by attending to the 
remarks contained in the body of the work upon the different kinds of Cows. — ■ 
They are what every body has seen, or been able to see ; but what no one has 
attended to. For myself, I have persevered through all obstacles : neither fruit- 
less expenses, which were enormous for one of my means ; nor the malice of the 
malevolent ; nor the cold reception of the iadifferent ; nor the smile of increduli- 
ty ; nothing has been able to damp my zeal. Strong in my conviction, I have 
been sustained by it through all my trials ; and it has always raised me up when 
all conspired to depress me. 



CHAPTER n. 

ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF COWS. 
§ 1. Genuine Cows. 

I HAVE, as I said, established a classification of Cows ; and the reader will have 
become aware how much time it must have cost me to arrive at this classifica- 
tion. Neither the language of Science nor its method is to be expected in my 
work : I have had no other instructor than myself, and Nature has been my only 
book. I am not pretending to write a treatise of Natural History; I am only giv- 
ing to the public the result of my experience and observation. The suggestions 
of my own mind at the different stages of my discovery have been'my only guides. 
In following up my observations, it was requisite that order should be establish- 
ed among the facts noticed by me and the thoughts to which they gave rise. To 
designate the various figures of the escutcheons of the several classes, new names 
were necessary. This order and this nomenclature are of my own invention. — 
For the purpose of coining French names, I have not ransacked Greek or Latin 
vocabularies ; I have adopted those which suggested themselves as naturally ex- 
pressive. If they be not formed after the rules of etymology, they are at least 
such as every one can seize the meaning of; and my book being destined chiefly 
for that class of men who are for the most part strangers to belles-lettres, it will 
possess in their eyes the merit of not disguising things under the words used to 
dignify them. 

I divide Cows into Eight Classes or families ; and these classes each into eight 
Orders. In each class, I distinguish three dilferent Sizes ; the High, the Low 
and the Medium. This classification embraces all kinds of Cows known to me ; 
every individual being assignable to some one of these eight classes, and to some 
one of the orders comprised in it. According to the Class, the Order, and the Size 
of an animal, is her yield of milk : this being always found to correspond with 
the escutcheon characteristic of each class ; some one of which escutcheons, is 
recognized in every Cow, more or less perfectly defined and free from blemish, 
according to the degree in which she approaches to the perfection of her class. 
This mark consists, as I have said, of the figure, on the posterior parts of the an- 
imal, formed by the m^eeting of the hair that grows or points in different direc- 

(793) 



tions ; the line of junction of these different growths of hair constituting the out- 
line of the figure or escutcheon. Here are the names of the eight classes : 



iBt Class.... THE FLANDERS COW. 
2d "...." SELVAGE COW. 
3d «...." CURVELLNE COW. 
4th " .... " BICORN COW. 



5th Class.... THE DEMIJOHN COW. 

6tii " .... " SQUARE SCUTCHEON COW. 

7th " " LIMOUSINE COW. 

&th " .... " HORIZONTAL CUT COW. 



By means of the following description of the several Classes and Orders, aided 
hy the engraved prints attached to the work, every person can assign any Cow 
examined by him to her appropriate place iu the classification, and consequently 
form an accurate judgment in regard to the maximum quantity of milk which 
she can yield daily, and also to the time during which this yield will remain at 
its maximum. It results from the numerous and oft-repeated tests to which this 
method of judging has been subjected, that the yield may sometimes vary from 
what I have adopted as the standard point ; because, as I have stated, the cli- 
mate, the food and the season do exercise an influence upon it. But there is one 
thing which never varies, which always holds good, at all times and in all pla- 
ces : in every one of the eight classes, the Cows of the higher orders are always 
the best, and those of the lower orders always the least good ; that is to say, the 
two highest orders are always the most productive, the third and fourth orders 
are tolerably good, and the four others go on diminishing to the last, which may 
be looked upon as nullities so far as regards milk. 

§ 2. Bastard Cows. 

Before entering upon a detailed description of the classes severally, it is im- 
portant that the reader be reminded that each class has its Bastards ; that is to 
say. Cows which, although bearing a perfect resemblance to the others, do never- 
theless differ from them in their yield. This resemblance deceives the most prac- 
ticed eye, and \§ the source of many mistakes and of serious losses. In order, 
therefore, that the reader may be enabled to avail himself of my method, I must 
make him acquainted with the marks by which the bastards of each class are 
distinguished. 

I have adopted the word Bastard to denote those Cows which give milk only so 
long as they have not been got with calf anew ; and which, upon this happen- 
ing, go dry, all of a sudden or in the course of a few days. Cows of this kind are 
found in each of the classes, and in every order of the class. Some of them are 
great milkers ; but so soon as they have got with calf, their milk is gone. Oth- 
ers present the most promising appearance, but their yield is very insignificant. 
Cases of this kind occur every day ; the most skillful judges find themselves mis- 
taken. 

When it happens that a Cow that was giving a plenty of milk loses it, all of a 
sudden, upon being got with calf, people do not know how to account for this loss 
of her milk ; various causes are assigned for it, not one of which is the true one. 
It does not depend, as some suppose, upon the will of the animal about letting 
down her milk ; it so happens simply because she is born so, because she is so 
formed and constituted. 

Now there are characteristic signs, also, whereby the Bastard Cows in each of 
the classes and orders may be known. They are distinguished by the lines of as- 
cending and descending hair in their escutcheon. These escutcheons are put 
before the reader's eyes in the Ninth plate, the drawings of which are, like the 
others, from nature. 

(704) 



— ) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



In general, these Bastard Cows conceive with great facility the first time they 
come in heat, if they be then put to the bull. But they do not continue to give 
milk in any quantity ; they cannot furnish enough even for the calf. Conse- 
quently if a Cow of this kind be put to the bull, it becomes necessary to wean her 
calf, find it falls away so as to be unfit for the butcher. 

Among the Bastard Cows, some yield an oily and creamy milk ; others but a 
serous milk : some give a great deal ; others but little. In them, as in the gen- 
uine Cow of the same classes, the yield varies with the size ; and the color of 
the dandruf is the same. 

Generally speaking, the flow of milk is at its maximum during the first eight 
days after calving ; but the milk is of a bad quality. After this period it under- 
goes a slight diminution ; but its flow being once regularly established, the 
quantity remains constant until the Cow has conceived anew. At this period, Jt 
undergoes another diminution, in all the Classes and Orders ; but more or less ac- 
cording to the Class and Order. We are now to enter into a more particular ex- 
planation of this. 

CLASS I. 
QLi)c lianhcxs Coto. 

The reader is already apprised that, in the denominations which have suggest- 
ed themselves to me, he is not to expect etymological or scientific combinations. 
The names which I have given to my classes are altogether arbitrary, and have 
reference to my own notions solely. I have adopted the above appellation for the 
Cows of my first class, which are the best in our country, because Cows of the 
Flemish breed, extensively known for their valuable qualities, possess, generally 
speaking, the escutcheon which is characteristic of this first class. These Cows, 
which I call the Flanders Cows, are the best milkers ; they are also, among us, 
the most scarce. In this class, as in all the others, each order is distinguished 
by a particular modification of the general mark or escutcheon of the class ; and 
there is a corresponding difi'erence in the yield of milk, in the proportions which 
I am about to specify. 

With respect to size, I call a Cow high when she weighs from five to six hun- 
dred pounds ; of medium hight, when she weighs from three to four hundred 
pounds ; low, when she weighs from one to two hundred pounds.* 

HIGH COW .... First Order. 

Cows of the First Order of this class and this size yield, whilst at the hight of 
their flow, (that is to say, from tdie time of calving until they are got with calf 
again) twenty litres] of milk a day. After they have conceived anew, the quan- 
tity of milk diminishes little by little ; but they continue to give milk until they 
are eight months gone with calf: indeed Cows of this order never go dry, if we 
choose to milk them all the time. \ 

Cows of this Class and Order are known by their having a delicate udder, cover- ' 
ed with a fine, downy hair growing upward from between the four teats. This i 
downy growth extends upward, over the hinder part of the udder and the re- \ 
gion above it, blending itself with a similar growth (of hair pointing upward) ' 
which, beginning on the legs, a little above the hock joint, covers the inner sur- i 

* This is French weight. To reduce it to English avoirdupois, add 8 pounds to every 100. * 

t The litre is one of the modern French measures, containing about 2J English wine pints. I 

(795) {This Treatise icill be continued in the March No. of this 7vork.] ( 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



SabU 3 <t\as3 1. 

THE FLANDERS COW. 



Order lat, 



Order I2d. 




Order 5th. 



Order 6th. 




(796) 



^^0t^^^^^^^ 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



®able I (Q:ia00 ). 

THE FLANDERS COW. 



Order 3d. 



Order 4tb. 




Order 7th, 



Order 8th. 




(797) as 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



face 01 the thighs, encroaching upon the outer surface to the points A A, (Plate 
1, Order I,) and then contracting as it extends upward to the points B B, on each 
side of the vulva, and about four inches* distant from it. They generally have, 
above the hind teats, two small oval marks, formed by hair growing downward, 
each of wliich is about two inches wide by three inches long. These marks are 
distinguishable also by their color, which is paler than that of the surrounding 
upward-growing hair. 

In the First Order of this Class, the skin of the inner surface of the thighs and 
adjacent parts, up to the vulva, is of a yellowish color, with here and there a 
black spot. A sort of bran or dandruf detaches from it. 

All Cows whose escutcheon corresponds, in its general shape or outline, with 
the one here described and seen in the plate, modified as it is in the various Or- 
ders, belong to this Class, whatever may be their color or their breed. 

Second Order.— Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, 
eighteen litres a day ; and they continue to give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf 

The marks of this Order are exactly like those of the First Order, (they are 
designated in the Plate by the same letters,) except that to the right of the vulva 
and near it there is a streak of hair growing downward (F). This mark is about 
four-tenths of an inch wide by two and a half inches long; the hair within it is 
very short. It indicates that the daily yield of the Cow diminishes by about one- 
sixth, upon her being got with calf 

Third Order. — Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, six- 
teen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone 
with calf. 

Their escutcheon resembles in shape that of the preceding Orders. It differs 
therefrom in having within it a semi-circle (C) of downward-growing hair, em- 
bracing the vulva and extending about one and a half inches below it, while it is 
about two and a half inches in width. The hair within this semi-circle is more 
shining and of a lighter color than the ascending hair around. In this Order there 
is but one oval (E) above the teats, to the left. 

Fourth Order. — Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, 
fourteen litres, and continue to give milk until six months gone with calf 

The escutcheon differs from those above described in being more contracted — 
the upward-growing hair occupying less surface. The points A A are not so far 
apart, and consequently nearer to the inside of the thighs. The points B B are 
nearer to the vulva — distant from it only about four-tenths of an inch. From 
these points there is a growth of downward-growing hair, which encloses the 
vulva, forming with it the two triangles seen in the Plate, on© side of which is 
B C. These triangles also are distinguishable by the hair being more lustrous 
and of a lighter color. 

Fifth Order. — Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, 
twelve litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are five months gone 
with calf 

The escutcheon of this Order, as compared with that of the preceding, is some- 
what narrower at the points A A and B B. Below the vulva, there is a streak 
of descending hair (C) about six inches long by a little over one inch wide. This 

* The French measures, which are given in the fractions of the metre, have been reduced to English 
inches. The reduction Is not, in every instance, absolutely exact ; but it is sufficiently so for practical pur- 
poses. 

(904) i[Continued from page ^S^.] 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



F escutcheon is distinguished also by a growth of descending hair (G) on the right 
> thigh, which, beginning at A, encroaches upon the ascending hair, running into 
I the inner surface of the thigh, to the distance of about six inches. 
[ Sixth Order. — Cows of this Order yield, during the hight of their flow, nine 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until four months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon of this Order has the same figure as that of the Fifth, only it 
IS more contracted at the points A A. On both thighs there is a growth of de- 
scending hair (G G), which runs into the inner surface of the thigh, forming a 
triangle, the sides of which are about four inches and two inches in length. — 
Below the vulva is the same mark (C) as in the preceding Order. 

Seventh Order. — Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, 
six litres a day, and continue to give milk until three months gone with calf. 

In this Order, as is seen in the Drawing, the upper part of the escutcheon is 
entirely wanting on the right side. On the left side it is well defined, though on 
a Tery contracted scale, between the points A and B. On the right side, the 
lower portion of the escutcheon terminates at a point in the line where the two 
thighs join ; that is to say, in a line with the vulva. To the right of this line, 
the only trace of the wanting half of the escutcheon, above the point just men- 
tioned, consists in a few hairs bristling up against each other. 

In this Order the udder is generally covered with a thin growth of coarse 
hair. 

Eighth Order. — Cows of this Order yield, while at the hight of their flow, 
four litres a day, and continue to give milk until two months gone with calf 

The escutcheon is the same as that just described, only yet more contracted 
and imperfect. Here and there, on each side, a few scattering hairs bristle up 
within the space occupied by the escutcheon in the more perfect Orders. 

What has been said of the distinctive marks of the several Orders of this Class 
holds good, whatever may be the size of the Cow, except that the dimensions 
above given, having reference to tall Cows, are to be proporliona-lly reduced in 
regard to those of the other two sizes. Respecting the latter, therefore, it is re- 
quisite to state only their yield and the time during which they continue to give 
milk. 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — Cows of the First Order of this Size yield, during the hight of 
their flow, sixteen litres a day ; and, like those of the High Size, they continue to 
give milk until they are eight months gone with calf— the yield gradually di- 
minishing from the time they conceive anew. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield fourteen litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf 

Third Order. — These Cows yield twelve litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until six months gone with calf 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until four months gone with calf 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until thrap months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until two months gone with calf 

(905) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Eighth Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and they continue to give 
milk only until they have conceived anew. 

LOW COW. 

First Order. — Cows of the First Order of this Size yield, while at the hight 
of their flow, twelve litres a day ; and they continue to give milk until they are 
eight months gone with calf— the yield gradually diminishing from the time 
they conceive anew. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until four months gone with calf 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until two months gone with calf 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until one month gone with calf 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield one litre a day, and continue to give milk 
only until they have conceived anew. 

BASTAKD OF THE FLANDERS COW. 

Upon entering on the description of these Bastards, I will observe that I shall 
confine myself to Cows of the High Size ; because, to apply the description to 
those of the smaller sizes, all that will be requisite is to reduce the dimensions 
of the marks in proportion to the smallness of the Cow. 

The Flanders Cow has two varieties of Bastards, (Plate IX, Fig. 1 and 2.) — 
The first has, within the escutcheon of ascending hair, an oval (J) of downward- 
growing hair, just below the vulva, and in a line with it, distant therefrom about 
eight inches. This oval is about four inches long, by about two and a half inches 
wide ; and the hair within it is invariably of a lighter color than that around. — 
The larger the oval is, the more rapidly will the Cow lose her milk and go dry 
upon being got with calf. The smaller it is, the less rapid will be the loss of 
milk ; but it will not the less certainly take place, in a notable degree, in every 
Cow that bears this mark. It will be perceived that the Drawing represents the 
Cow of the First Order only — this being sufficient to make the reader well enough 
acquainted with the mark to recognize it when it occurs in Cows of the inferior 
Orders. 

The Bastard No. 2 may be known by the circumstance that the upward-grow- 
ing hair which forms the escutcheon, instead of lying smooth and pointing 
straight upward, bristles up like the beards of an ear of wheat, and projects 
crosswise over the outline of the escutcheon at the points A A. The more ex- 
tensive the surface of the escutcheon is, and the finer and smoother the hair 
growing within it, the more abundant is the yield of milk. When this hair is 
coarse, long and scanty, it indicates a thin, serous milk. 

In the Bastards, the skin on the interior of the thighs, up to the vulva, is gen- 
erally of a reddish color ; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no dandruf. 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



CLASS II. 

The shape of the escutcheon of this Class is very different from that of the 
First. The upper part of this escutcheon consists, as is seen in the Drawing, 
(Plate II.) of a growth of ascending hair, rising vertically, and without any inter- 
ruption from descending hair, to the vulva. Its resemblance to the list or selvage 
of a piece of cloth is what suggested the name that I have given to this Class. 

HIGH COW. 

First Order. — Cows of this Order yield, during the hight of their flow, eighteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with 
calf. Like those of the First Order of the First Class, they never go dry, if we 
choose to milk them all the time. 

The udder is delicate and covered with a fine, downy hair, growing upward. — 
The escutcheon consists of a growth of ascending hair, commencing between the 
fore teats, and also on the inner surface of the thighs just above the hock joint. 
It expands as it extends upward, till it reaches the points A A. Here it is bound- 
ed by a right line, which runs across the inner side of the thigh, from A A to 
tke points D D, which are about four inches distant from each other. From these 
points right lines rise vertically to the vulva, where they terminate, about an inch 
and a half apart. 

Above the two hind teats, and nearly in a vertical line v/ith them, are two oval 
marks (E E), formed by a growth of descending hair, distinguishable by its lus- 
tre, the size of which is about the same as in the Flanders Cow. 

In these Cows, also, the skin of the inner surface of the thighs is of a yellowish 
color. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, sixteen 
[ litres a day, and continue to give milk until seven and a half months gone with 
I calf 

[ The escutcheon is the same as that of the First Order, only the points A A are 
[ not so high up, and the entire figure is on a rather smaller scale. To the left of 
the vulva, outside of the escutcheon, is a small streak of ascending hair (E), about 
two and three-fourths inches long by less than half an inch wide. There is but 
one oval above the hind teats, on the left side. The entire escutcheon is distin- 
guishable by the hair within being more glossy than that around it. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, fourteen 
litres a dav, and they continue to give milk until they are six months gone with 
calf. 

The escutcheon differs from the preceding m the following particulars : it is on 
a smaller scale ; the points A A are nearer to the points D D, and the lines which 
rise from the latter points meet at the vulva, so as to form an acute angle. On 
each side of the vulva is a streak of ascending hair (F F,) of the same size as the 
one in the preceding order ; that on the right beuig, however, sensibly shorter 
than the one on the left. There is, also, but one of the oval marks (E) above the 
teats, to the left. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, tivelve 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are four and a half months 
gone with calf. 

(907) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



— i 



tlablc M €:ios0 2. 

THE SELVAGE COW. 



Order Ist. 



Order 2d. 




Order 6th. 



Order 6th. 




TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



The escutcheon is like that of the preceding order, with the difference that the 
points A A are considerably lower down than the points D D. The two streaks 
of ascending hair, on the right and left of the vulva, are longer by nearly an inch, 
and also wider than in the Third Order ; and there is no oval mark above the 
teats. 

Fifth Ordee. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, ten litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are three months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is on a smaller scale than in the Fourth Order ; the points D 
D are much nearer together — the distance between them being less than one 
inch ; the list or selvage, as it rises toward the vulva, takes a turn to the left — 
its width contracting very much — and runs up, past the lower extremity of the 
vulva, to the point F. There is but one streak of ascending hair (F) on the right 
of the vulva, six inches long by an inch and a half wide. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, eight litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are two months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is yet more contracted than the one last described ; the selvage 
is very narrow, and terminates in a point, about four inches from its base. There 
are two streaks of ascending hair, to the right and left of the vulva, of about the 
same size as the one in the fifth order ; that is to say, six inches long by one and 
a half in width. 

Seventh Order.— These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, six litres « 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are one month gone with calf. j 

The escutcheon is still smaller than the last ; the selvage being now nothing j 
more than a small angular projection of upward growing hair, in the direction of ( 
the vulva. There are two streaks of ascending hair (F F) on the right and left ^ 
of the vulva. The one on the left is nearly eight inches long by an inch and a J 
half wide ; and consists of coarse hair, which, in growing upward, deflects cross- 
wise toward the outer part of the thigh. The one on the right is of the same 
width, but only half as long as the other ; it consists of hair growing in the same 
way. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, four litres 
a day, and cease to give milk upon being got with calf 

The escutcheon is exceedingly small ; the selvage is but a mere projecting 
point ; there is but one streak at the side of the vulva, on the left ; which is form- 
ed of a scanty growth of coarse hairs, bristling up and deflecting crosswise. 

! The remark made above, in regard to the First Class, I will here repeat with 
respect to the present and to the remaining six: all that is said of the different 
orders of the high size, so far as regards their characteristic marks, holds good 
of the same Orders in the other sizes, except as to the dimensions of the marks, 
which are to be proportionally reduced. On the subject of the two lower sizea, 
I shall therefore confine myself to the yield of milk, and the time during which 
the Cow continues to give milk after conceiving anew. 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, fourteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until eight months gone with calf 

Second Order. — These Cows yield thirteen litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until six and a half months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield eleven litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until five months gone with calf. 

(910) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Fourth Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 

until four months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk mitil three months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield six litres a day, and contmue to give milk 
until two months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until they have conceived anew. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and go dry upon being 
impregnated anew. 

LOW COW. 

First Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, ten litres 
a day ; and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until they are six and a half months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until three months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until two months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows also yield two litres a day, but they go dry 
upon conceiving anew. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield but one litre a day, and cease to give milk 
upoa conceiving anew. 

BASTARD OF THE SELVAGE COW 

The Bastards of this Class, (see Plate IX. Fig. 3) whatever may be their size 
and the Order to which they belong, are to be known by two patches of ascend- 
ing hair, (F F) on the right and left of the vulva, distant from it an inch and a 
quarter to an inch and a half. They are from four to five inches long by about 
an inch and a half wide. The smaller they are, and the finer the hair within 
them, the less rapid is the loss of milk which they always indicate. When they 
consist of coarse hair, and terminate in a point at each end, they indicate that the 
milk is poor and serous. 



CLASS III. 
®l)e CnrocUnc Cow. 

I have given this name to the Cows of my Third Class, because their escutch- 
eon, which is lozenge-shaped, is bounded above by two curved lines; which, 
commencing to the right and left on the thighs, run up toward the vulva, and 
meet at a point below it. (See Plate III.) 

This Class is a very numerous one ; and, in regard to the yield of milk, approx- 
imates to the First Class. Cows belonging to it, and to every one of its Orders, 

(911) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



aabU 3IJ Class 3. 

THE CURVELINE COW. 



Order 1st. 



Order 2d. 




Order 5th, 



Order 6th. 




(912) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



^abk IJJ mass 3. 

THE CURVELINE COW. 



Order 3d. 



Order 4th. 




Order 7th. 



Order 8th. 




are found in all breeds. The yield varies according to the Order and the size, 
just as in the First and Second Classes. 

HIGH eow. 

First Order. — Cows of this Size and Order yield, during the hight of their flow, 
eighteen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf. 

They exhibit the same delicacy of texture, and the same yellowish color of the 
skin within the escutcheon, as those of the higher Orders of the foregoing Classes. 
The escutcheon, in its upper part, is broader than that of the Second Class. It 
commences between the four teats, and on the inner surface of the thighs above 
the hock joint. Rising thence, and encroaching upon the outer surface of the 
thighs to two points, (A A) about midway up, its upper part is bounded by the 
lines above mentioned ; which, beginning at the points A A, curve outward, and 
are united, just below the vulva, about an inch or less from it, by another short 
curved line. (B) The lower part of the escutcheon is bounded by lines on the 
thighs, curving inward. 

Above the hind teats, and nearly in a vertical line with them, are two ovals, 
(E E) formed by hair growing downward, the same as in the higher Orders of the 
two preceding Classes. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, sixteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is the same as that just described, only somewhat contracted 
in all its parts. There is but one oval (E) above the teats, on the left side. On 
the left of the vulva, is a streak of ascending hair, (F) about an inch and a half 
long by less than half an inch in width. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, fourteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until six months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is of the same shape as in the preceding Order; contracted, 
however, in all its parts. The point B is still lower down. To the right and left 
of the vulva are two streaks of ascending hair, (F F) about four inches long by 
less than an inch in width. Above the teats, on the left, is one oval (E). 

FoxTRTH Order. ^These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield twelve 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are four months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is still the same in shape, but on a yet smaller scale through- 
out ; its upper extremity at a greater distance, therefore, below the vulva. The 
base of its upper part rests on the udder. The streaks of ascending hair, (F F) 
on the right and left of the vulva, are longer and wider than those in the third 
Order ; and the hairs within them bristle up, projecting on each side. On the 
right there is a failure of the ascending hair below the point A, and its place (F) 
is occupied by hair growing downward. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ten litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are three months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller still, lower down, and confined to the inner surface 
of the thighs. On the left, there is a patch of bristling hair growing upward, 
nearly eight inches long by an inch and a half, or more, in width. To the right 
and left, beginning at the points A A, are two spaces (F F) covered with hair 
growing downward instead of the ascending hair. They are about four inches in 
width, and six inches long, running inward toward the crease formed by the 

meeting of the thighs. 

(yi4) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Sixth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield seven 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are two months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is still of the same shape ; but the point B is now so far down 
below the vulva that it must be looked for where the thighs meet. At the point 
E, under the vulva, is a small patch of ascending hair, about an inch and two- 
thirds long, by four-fifths of an inch in width. I 

Seventh Order. — These Cows, during the hight of their flow, yield Jive litres \ 

a day, and continue to give milk until they are impregnated anew. ) 

The escutcheon is yet more reduced in size, and is now hid away between the ) 

thighs. To the right and left of the vulva, are two patches of ascending hair, j 

(F F) which bristles up and projects on each side. They are about six inches < 

long by two and a half wide. | 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, three j 

litres a day, and go dry upon being goi with calf < 

In this Order, the escutcheon is still perceptible, but it is of a very diminutive | 

size. j 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. • < 

First Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, fifteen ( 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with calf ' 

Second Order. — These Cows yield thirteen litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until they are seven months gone with calf 

Third Order. — These Cows yield eleven litres a day, and continue to give milk 
imtil six months gone with calf 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield nine litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five mouths gone with calf 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield seven litres a day, and contmue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield five and a half litres a day, and continue to 
give milk until three months gone with calf 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield three and a half litres a day, and continue 
. to give milk until two months gone with calf 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and go dry upon being got 
with calf. 
j LOW COW. 

First Order. — Cows of this Order and Size yield, while at the hight of their 
I flow, twelve litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months 
! gone with calf. 

; Second Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order.— These Cows yield eight litres a day, and contmue to give milk 
until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order.— These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf 

Fifth Order.— These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf 

Sixth Order.- -These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf 

Seventh Order.— These Cows yield three litres a day, and go dry upon being 
impregnated anew. 

(915) ._^__ , 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS 



Eighth Order.— These Cows yield two litres a day, and go dry upon being 
impregnated anew. 

BASTARD OF THE CURYELINE COW. 

In the Curveline Cow, the growths of ascending hair, (F F) to the right and 
left of the vulva, require special attention, in regard to their dimensions, to see 
that they are of the size indicated in the several descriptions of the different Or- 
ders. When they are of small size, they do not indicate a very rapid loss of milk ; 
but when they are from four to five inches long, by an inch and a half in width, 
(in which case they are generally pointed at both ends, and consist of coarse hair,) 
they may then be considered as the size of a bastard Cow, that will go dry so 
soon as she is got with calf. As a general rule with regard to these marks, the 
larger they are, the worse will the Cow be in this respect. (See Plate IX. Fig. 4.) 



CLASS IV. 
®l)e Sicorn Coto. 

This name is given to my Fourth Class, because the upper part of its escutch- 
eon represents two horns. Cows of this class are good milkers. They are found 
in all the breeds which we possess in France. In this, as in the other Classes, 
the general mark of the Class presents itself under modifications indicative of the 
Order to which the Cow belongs. 

HIGH COW. 

First Order. — Cows of this Order and Size yield, while at the hight of their 
flow, sixteen litres a day, and continue t® give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf. 

Like those of the same Order in the foregoing Classes, they are distinguished 
by the delicacy of their udder. The dandruf which detaches from the skin 
throughout the escutcheon is of a yellowish or copperish color. This escutcheon, 
as I have said above, has at top two horns, formed in the way that is seen in the 
drawing. (Plate IV. Order 1.) It begins, as in the foregoing Orders, in the space 
between the four teats, and on the inner surface of the thighs, just above the hock 
joint ; whence it rises toward the tail, spreading over the inner surface, and par- 
tially over the outer surface, of the thighs, to the points A A. From these points, 
its outline consists of curved lines to the points B B, which are distant about four 
inches from the vulva. Thence the outline descends again on each side in near- 
ly straight lines, which meet at the point C, immediately beneath the vulva, and 
at the distance of about eight inches from it. On the right and left of the vulva, 
are two streaks of ascending hair, (F F) about two inches long by two-fifths of an 
inch in width. 

As in the higher Orders of the Classes already described, so m the present we 
find, above the two hind teats, two small oval marks, (D D) formed by hair grow- 
ing downward in the field of ascending hair. 

Second Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield fourteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with 
calf. 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



The escutcheon is the same as in the First Order ; except that it is on a small- * 
er scale, and does not reach so high up. Tlie color of tlie skin within it is the i 
same. Of the two streaks of ascending hair, (F F) on the right and left of the ] 
vulva, the one on the left is of the same size as in the First Order, whilst the < 
other is but half as long. Of the two horns, (B B) the one on the right is up- i 
ward of an inch shorter than the other. There is but one oval mark (D) above [ 
the teats, on the left. 

Third Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ij^c/i-e 
Hires a day, and continue to give milk until six months gone wiili calf. 

The escutcheon is of the same sliape as in the preceding Order ; smaller, and 
consequently spreading less upon the outer surface of the thighs ; the right hand 
horn shorter, by about tAvo inches, than the one on the left. There is but one of 
the marks (F) along side of the vulva, on the left. 

Fourth Order, — •These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield te7i Hires 
a day, and continue to give milk until live months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller than in the Third Order ; but the same in shape, 
except on the riglit of its lower part, when the following irregularity occurs: be- 
low the pomt A, the ascending hair is encroached upon by a growth of descend- 
ing hair, that runs into the escutcheon, forming an angle, the point of which is 
at I I. Measured across from the point A, this angle of descending hair pene- 
trates the escutcheon to the distance of about four inches ; whilst the break which 
it makes in the outline of the escutcheon is from six to seven and a half inches 
long. 

Besides this irregularity in the shape of the escutcheon, this Order is distin- 
guished by a streak of ascending hair (E) under the vulva, nearly three inches 
long by two-fifths of an inch in width. 

Whenever the blemish or irregularity in the escutcheon here described is 
found, it indicates a more rapid decrease in the daily yield of milk than would be 
exhibited by a Cow possessing the same escutcheon free from blemish ; and the 
rate of decrease will be proportionate to the size of the blemish ; that is to say, to 
tke extent of surface covered by the descending hair where it encroaches upon 
the field of upward growing hair. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield eight litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are four months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon the same in shape as the preceding, but on a smaller scale. 
Near the vulva, to the left, is a streak of bristling hair, growing upward, (F) 
about six inches long by two wide. At the points A A, on the right and left, are 
two spaces where the ascending hair fails and is replaced by downward growing 
hair ; which spaces penetrate the inner surface of the thighs to the points I I. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, six litres a 
day, and continue to give milk until three months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon the same as in the Fifth Order ; but smaller, and hid away be- 
tween the thighs. Above it, to the right and left of the vulva, are two streaks 
(F F) of ascending hair, bristlmg up and projecting sideways. They are of the 
same size as the one in the preceding Order, just described. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield, whilst at the hight of their flow, four li- 
tres a day, and continue to give milk until they are two months gone with calf. 
The same escutcheon, but still more hid away between the thighs. The 
marks on the right and left of the vulva, consisting each of a growth of bristling ■ 



[ TViis Treatise will be concluded in the April No. of this work. 



Qlabh JD ©lass 4. 

THE BICORN COW. 



Order 1st. 




Order 5th. 



Order 6th. 




(918) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



arable Jb Class 4. 

THE BICORN COW. 



Order 3d. 



Order 4th, 




Order 7th. 



Order 8th. 




TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



hair*poiating upward, are longer and wider than those in the preceding Order ; 
the one on the right not so long as the other. 

Eighth Order.— These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield three 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until thev have conceived anew. 

The escutcheon is still defined, but on a very small scale. If the marks of up- 
ward o-rowing hair (F F) at the sides of the vulva exist at all, they consist of a 
few bristling hairs, projecting crosswise. 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — Cows of this Order, while at the hight of their flow, yield 
fourteen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone 
with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield twelve litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until they are seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. —These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
milk until they are four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and cease to give milk 
upon being got with calf. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry upon conceiving anew. 

LOW COW. 

First Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, eleven 
litres a day ; and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with 
calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield nine litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield seven litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until two and a half months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield tioo litres a day, and their yield goes on < 
diminishing until they conceive anew ; at which time they go dry. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry at the aame period. 

BASTARD OF THE BICORN COW. 

The marks F F possess the same properties for indicating the Bastards of this 
Fourth Class, as in regard to those of the Third. (See Plate IX. Fig. 5.) 



(1014) 



*[Concluded from, page 459.] 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



CLASS V. 
®l)e SDemijoljn €oid. 

This name indicates the shape of the escutcheon of this class. It may strike 
the reader as queer ; but it is significant, and serves to recall the figure of the 
characteristic mark of the Class, which very much resembles the outline of a dcm- 
i}ohn. If my discovery is a useful one, habit w^ill soon accustom people to this 
name, as well as to the others of my Eight Classes ; and to those who may feel 
disposed to find fault with them. 1 will say, what matters it to you ? the name is 
as nothing, the importance is altogether in the thing. 

HIGH COW, 

First Order. — Cows of this Order and Size, while at the hight of their flow, 
yield sixteen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf. 

The skin within the escutcheon has the same yellowish color as in the higher 

Orders of the preceding Classes. The udder is delicate, and covered with fine, 

downy hair. The escutcheon, consisting of a growth of ascending hair, begins 

between the four teats, and on the inner side of the legs, above the hock joint ; 

t as it extends upward it spreads upon the outer surface of the thighs to the points 

* A A. (Plate V. Fig. 1.) From these points, the figure is bounded by right lines, 

i to the points J J, which are distant from each other from five to six inches. From 

these points, the upward growing hair rises to the line N, where it is from two 

j and a half to three and a quarter inches in width. This line is directly below 

\ the vulva, and distant from it about four inches. The wider the figure is at this 

I place, and the nearer it approaches to the vulva, the better the Cow. 

Above the hind teats are two ovals (E E), formed by descending hair, about 
' four inches long, by nearly three inches in width. On the right and left of the 
I vulva are two streaks of ascending hair (0 O), nearly two and a half inches long, 
I by less than half an inch in widih. The hair within these streaks is fine and 
; short, and very distinct from the dascending hair that surrounds them. 
I Second Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, four- 
1 teen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with 
calf. 

The escutcheon differs from that of the First Order in being on a smaller scale. 
Above the teats there is but one oval (E), to the right, formed by descending 
hair. Of the two streaks of ascending hair (O O) alongside of the vulva, the 
one to the left is of the same dimensions as in the First Order ; but the one to 
the right, although of the same width, is of but half the length. 

Third Order.— These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield twelve 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are six months gone with calf. 
The escutcheon, preserving its general shape, is yet more contracted. At the 
points A A, it is more rounded off, and no longer spreads on the outer surface of 
the thighs. Above the points J J, it is narrower ; and it stops short at N, consid- 
erably lower down beneath the vulva. There is but one of the streaks (0) of 
ascending hair, which is to the left of the vulva, and about an inch and a half 
long, by two-fifths of an inch in width. 

(1015) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



TABLE V CLASS 5. 



®I)C CDemijot)n Cotn. 



Order 1st. 



Order 2d. 




Order 5th. 



Order Gttv, 




TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



TABLE V CLASS 5. 



®hjf SDemijol)n OToto. 



Order 4th. 




Order 7£h. 



Order 8th. 




(1017) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Fourth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ten 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are five months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is yet more reduced in size. The points A A lower down and 
nearer together. The lines are more curved at the points J J, and the distance 
from these points to N is much less. Below A, on the right side, there is a fail- 
ure of the upward growing hair, marked P. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield eight litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are four months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon goes on contracting in size. The points A A, being now on 1 
the inner surface of the thighs, are no longer so apparent. The upper extremity 
N is much farther below the vulva. At both points A A there is a failure of the 
ascending hair (P P), where its place is occupied by descending hair, running in- 
to the escutcheon. These marks are about five inches deep, by four in width. 

Below the vulva there is a small streak of ascending hair (E), about an inch 
and a quarter long, by less than half an inch wide. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield six litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are three inonths gone with calf 

The escutcheon is on a still more contracted scale than in the preceding Order. 
Near the vulva, to the left, there is a streak of ascending hair (F), which bristles 
up. It is nearly five inches long, by about one and a half in width. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield four 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are two months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller and lower down than in the preceding Order. On 
the right and left of the vulva are two streaks of ascending hair, which bristles 
up. The one on the left (F) is somewhat longer than that found in the Sixth Or- 
der ; the one on the right (C) is about four inches long, by an inch and a half in 
width. Below the point A, on the right hand, there is a failure of the ascending 
hair (P). 

Eighth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield two 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they have conceived anew. 

The escutcheon is hid away between the thighs ; the points A A scarcely per- 
ceptible. The streaks of bristling hair (C C) on the right and left of the vulva 
are of the kind indicative of the degeneracy and bad quality of the Cow. 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield fourteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield twelve litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until they are seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield sijc litres a day, and contmue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until two months gone with calf. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry upon being got with calf. 

(1018) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



LOW COW. 

First Order. — These Cows, while at the liight of their flow, yield ten Hires 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with call". 

Second Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield six and a half litres a day, and continue to 
give milk until six months gone Avith calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield Jive litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield two Hires a day, and continue to give milk 
until two months gone with calf. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield one litre of milk a day, and go dry upon 
conceiving anew. 

BASTARD OF THE DMIJOHN COW. 

When the streaks marked F F are found in the Cow of this Class, of the di- 
mensions specified in the description of the Eastard of the Curveline Cow, they 
serve here also to detect the Bastard Cow ; and );er badness in regard to the rapid 
loss of her milk will be in proportion to the size of these streaks. The smaller 
they are, the less defective will she be in this respect. (See Plate IX. Fig. 6.) 



CLASS VI. 

®l)e Scfuarc-Scutcijeon (E^cio. 

I The name indicates the appearance of the escutcheon, the upper part of which 
'is shaped like a carpenter's or mason's square. 

I HIGH COW. 

I First Order.— Cows of this Order and Size yield, while at the hight of their 
Iflow, sixteen litres a day, and they continue to give milk until they are eight 
months gone with calf. 

j The skin within the escutcheon is of the same yellov/ish color as in the supe- 
|rior Orders of the preceding Classes. The udder delicate, covered with short, 
(fine hair. The escutcheon begins as in the foregoing Classes ; and, rising from 
just above the hock joint, on the inner surface of the thighs, spreads outward to 
the points A A. (See Plate VI. Order 1.) Above those points it represents a 
i square. A right line runs across to the points J J, distant from each other from 
[five to six inches. Thence the figure is bounded by two right lines, which meet 
'in an acute angle at the point E, distant about two inches from the vulva. Above 
jthat, to the left, the figure of a square is formed by two streaks of hair, E B and 
iB C (the point C being at the orifice of the vagina) ; the former of which is about 
jfour inches long, by an inch and a quarter Avide, and the latter from five to six 
■inches long, by somewhat less than the same width. 

(1019^ 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Above the hindmost teats are two small oval marks (G G), formed by down- 
ward growing hair m the field of ascending hair. They are about five or six 
inches long, by two and a half wide. The hair within them is of a lighter color 
than that without. 

The nearer the escutcheon approaches to the vulva, the better the Cow. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, fourteen 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with 
calf. 

The escutcheon is the same as in the First Order, only somewhat reduced in 
size. The square figure near the vulva commences lower down, and is longer 
than the one just described. There is but one oval above the teats, to the left 
(G), of the same size as those in the First Order. 

Third Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield twelve 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are six months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is the same in its general shape, but it is more contracted in 
all its parts, and does not extend so high up. The points A A are nearer to the 
inner surface of the thighs ; and the escutcheon is narrower at the points J J, 
where the outline has acquired a curved character. 

The angular space between J J and E is narrower than the streak E B, and 
shorter than B C. The latter is wider and longer than in the preceding Order. 

Fourth Ortjer. — These Coavs yield, while at the hight of their flow, ten litres J 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are five months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is still more reduced in size. To the right of the vulva there 
is a streak of bristling hair, growing upward (F), about four inches long, by one 
and a half wide. Below the point A, to the right, there is a space (U) where 
the upward growing hair fails, and is replaced by descending hair. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield eight litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are four months gone with calf. 

The unfavorable marks are the same as in the preceding Order, only more con- 
spicuous and on a larger scale. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield six litres a 
day, and continue to give milk until they are three months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is yet more contracted, confined to the inner surface of the 
thighs, and more distant from the vulva. To the right and left of this orifice are 
streaks or lines of ascending hair, coarse and bristling. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield four 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are two months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller still. The streak of ascending hair (F) on the right 
is wider, and the hair more bristling. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, two litres 
a day, and go dry upon being got with calf. 

The shape of the escutcheon is still perceptible ; but it is very small, and hid 
away between the thighs. 



COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield from twelve 
to thirteen litres a day, and they continue to give milk until they are eight 
months gone with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield ten litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until seven months gone with calf. 

(1020) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Third Ordee. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Obder. — These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fii'TH Order. — These Cows yield four and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield three and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until one month and a half advanced in gestation. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry upon being got with 
calf. 



Order 1st, 



TABLE VI CLASS 6. 

^\\t Squaw- Smtcl) eon Coto. 



Order 2d. 



Order 3d. 




Order 4th. 




Order 6th. 



Order 6th. 



Order 7tti. 



Order 8th. 







LOW COW. 

First Order.— Cows of this Order and Size yield, while at the hight of their 
flow, nine litres a day ; and they continue to give milk until they are eight 
months gone with calf. 

Second Order.— These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order.— These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
uatil six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order.— These Cows yield four and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk imtil five months gone with calf. 



(10-21,. 



.32 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Fifth Oeder. — These Cows yield three and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield two and a half litres a day, and continue to 
give milk until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield one litre a day, and continue to give milk 
until a month and a half advanced in gestation. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry upon heing got with 
calf. 

BASTARD OF THE SQUARE-SCUTCHEON COW. 

When the streak (0) of ascending hair on the right of the vulva consists of 
coarse, bristling hair, this indicates a Bastard. She will lose her milk the more 
promptly in proportion to the size of this growth of bristling hair, to the coarse- 
ness of the hair, and to the degree in which it bristles up and projects over ; but, 
wherever |his sign exists, the Cow will lose her milk, more or less gradually, a 
short time after being impregnated. The indication of this will be the more pos- 
itive if the streaks above described as forming the square, to the left of the vulva, 
also consist of coarse, bristling hair. 



CLASS VII. 
®i)c Citnousine CTcrto. 

The first Cow of this Class which came under my notice was from the Province 
whose name I have adopted as that of the Class. It is not to be inferred, how- 
ever, that none but the Cows of Limousin belong to the Class. Its characteristic 
mark is to be found in all the different breeds. The name is a purely arbitrary 
one ; and, in adopting it, I acted in the same spirit that influenced me in calling 
my First Class the Flanders Cow. 

HIGH COW. 

First Order. — Cows of this Order and Size, while at the hight of their flow, 
y\e\A. fourteen litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf. 

The skin, within the escutcheon formed by the growth of ascending hair, is of 
the same yellowish color as in the nigher Orders of the preceding Classes. The 
udder is delicate, and covered with short, fine, and silky hair. The growth of 
ascending hair begins between the teats, and on the inner side of the legs, above 
the hock joint, spreading outwardly, as it rises, to the points A A (see Plate VII. 
Order 1), on the outer surface of the thighs. From these points the escutcheon 
is bounded by two right lines, which run slanting downward to the points J J, 
which are about four inches apart. From these points two right lines rise to the 
point 0, somewhat less than three inches below the vulva, where they meet in 
an acute angle. 

To the right and left of the vulva are two small streaks of ascending hair (C 
C), about three inches or less in length, by two-fifths of an inch in width. Above 
the hind teats are two ovals of des'^ending hair (G G), about four inches long, 

(1022) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



by two and a half inches in width. They are very distinguishable, by means of 
the whitish color of the hair within them. 

These streaks, to the right and left of the vulva, do not always occur in Cows 
of the First Order ; and they are not, therefore, to be considered as an indispensa- 
ble part of the characteristic marks of this Order. The escutcheon itself, even, 
is sometimes imperfectly defined, and yet the Cow proves herself to be of the 
First Order. 

Second Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield twelve 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with calf. 

The characteristic marks are the same as in the First Order ; the escutcheon, 
however, being on a smaller scale. The streaks (C C) to the right and left of 
the vulva are shorter and wider. 

Third Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ten litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are six months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is the same in shape, but more contracted. The streak (C) 
the vulva, to the left, is nearly five inches long, by upward of an inch in width. 
On the right of the vulva is a small patch of ascending hair (E), nearly three 
inches long, by upward of an inch in width. The point O is about six inches dis- 
tant from the vulva. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield eight 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until five months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is on a still smaller scale. There is but one streak (C) of as- 
cending hair by the vulva, on the left, which is eight inches long, by something 
over an inch in width. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, whUe at the hight of their flow, yield six and a 
half litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are four months gone with 
calf 

The escutcheon is smaller, lower down, and confined to the interior surface of 
the thighs. If any streaks of ascending hair occur, on the right and left of the 
vulva, they consist of bristling hair, and are longer and wider than in the preced- 
ing Order. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows, during the hight of their flow, yield five litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are three months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon preserves its shape, but is still more contracted in its dimen- 
sions. The point O is lower down. On the left of the vulva is a streak of brist- 
ling hair, growing upward (F). 

Seventh Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield four 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are one month gone with calf 

The escutcheon is smaller still. The streaks of ascending hair (F F) on the 
right and left of the vulva are wider, by about an inch, than those above de- 
scribed, and the hair is coarse and bristling. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ttoo 
litres a day, and go dry upon being got with calf. 

The escutcheon is so small, and hid away between the thighs, as to be barely 
perceptible. The streaks of ascending hair (F F) are still longer and wider than 
in the Seventh Order. 

COW OF MEDIUM HIGHT. 

First Order. — The Cows of this Order and Size, while at the hight of their 
flow, yield eleven litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight 
months gone with calf. 

(1023) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Second Order. — These Cows yield nine litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield seven and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield five and a half litres a day, and continue 
to give milk until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until two months gone with calf. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows also yield two litres a day, and godryupoa being 
got with calf. 



TABLE VII CLASS 7. 

®l)e £im0usine Cow. 



Order 1st, 



Order 2d 




Order 4th. 




Order 5th. 



Order 6th 



Order 7th. 



Order 8th. 





LOW COW. 

FmsT Order. — The Cows of this Order and Size yield, while at the hight of 
their flow, eight litres a day, and continue to give milk until eight months gone 
with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield seven litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

(10-24) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Third Order. — These Cows yield six Hires a day, and continue to give milk 
until six months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until five months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield four Hires a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield ihrce hires a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield Irvo hires a day, and continue to give milk 
until one month gone with calf. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield one hire a day, and go dry upon being got 
with calf. 

BASTARD OF THE LIMOUSINE COW. 

In this Class also, as in the Curvehne and Bicorn Classes, the Bastard is indi- 
cated by the streaks of ascending hair (F F) to the right and left of the vulva ; 
which streaks are of the same dimensions and of the same character generally 
as in those Classes. (See Plate IX. Fig. 8.) 



CLASS VIII. 
®l)e ^oripntal Qltit (Horn. 

I have given this name to those Cows whose escutcheon is bounded at top by 
a horizontal line, which cuts the ascending hair square off just when it has spread 
to its greatest width, The figure (Plate VIII.) will be seen to be very diiferent 
from that of the other Classes. 

HIGH COW. 

I First Order. — The Cows of this Order and Size, during the hight of their 
; flow, yield tivelve hires a day, and they continue to give milk until they are 
I eight months gone with calf. 

I The skin within the escutcheon, and the dandruf from it, are of a reddish yel- 
1 low. The ascending hair is short and fine ; the skin beneath it quite silky ; the 
' four teats far apart. As in the other Classes, the ascending hair which forms 
I the escutcheon begins between the four teats, and on the inner surface of the 
I thighs, a little above the hock joint — spreading out, as it rises, to the points E E, 
' on the outer surface of the thighs. Here it is cut short off, by a transversal or 
j horizontal line, running across from one thigh to the other. 

Although the escutcheon does not rise, as in the other Classes, to or near the 

I vulva, we nevertheless find, on the right and left of that orifice, the two streaks 
of ascending hair (C C), which are so valuable, as an indication of the character 
of the Cow, in regard to the period during which she will continue to give milk 
after becoming pregnant : this point being determined by the size of these marks 
I and the nature of the hair within them. In the present Order they consist of 
I fine hair, and are from three and a quarter to four inches in length, by less than 
I half an inch broad. 

j Above the hind teats are two little oval marks (B B), consisting of downward 
J growing hair, distinguishable by its whitish color as well as by the direction in 
which it points. 

(1025) 



Second Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield ten litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are seven months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is the same in shape as that of the First Order, but contracted 
in its dimensions. The streaks (C C) on the right and left of the vulva are une- 
qual in size — the one on the left being of the same length as in the First Order, 
while the one on the right is considerably shorter. 

In several of the Orders there is, immediately under the vulva, and touching 
it, a small streak of ascending hair (N), about two inches in length, by less than 
half an inch in breadth. 

Third Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield eight 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are six months gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is the same in shape, but more contracted still ;"the points E 
£ are lower down and nearer together. Alongside of the vulva there is but one 
streak of ascending hair (G), which bristles up and projects over. This mark is 
from five to six inches long, by from four-fifths to six-fifths of an inch in width. 

On the inner surface of the right thigh, beginning at the point A, there is a 
failure of the upward growing hair, which is replaced by descending hair. This 
downward growth of hair is wedge-shaped, pointing toward the udder ; it is 
about eight inches long, by four inches in width. The hair is very distinguish- 
able by its whitish color. 

Although I have taken this place to make it known, this mark does not always 
occur in Cows of this Order, nor is it peculiar to those of the present Class. — 
Whenever it is found, let the Cow be of whatever Class or Order she may, it in- 
dicates that her daily yield of milk will fall about one-third short of the quantity 
set down as proper to a Cow of that Class and Order. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield six litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are four and a half months gone with 
calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller and lower down than in the Third Order. There is 
but one streak (N) of upward growing hair, which is betwixt the thighs, in a 
line with the vulva, and about two or two and a half inches from it. It is about 
four inches long, by four-fifths of an inch in breadth. Within the escutcheon 
there are two failures (A A) of the upward growing hair, like the one above de- 
scribed — that on the right being larger than the other. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield five litres 
a day, and continue to give milk until they are three and a half months gone 
with calf. 

The escutcheon is smaller still, and lower down. On the left of the vulva 
there is a streak (F) of upward growing hair, coarse and bristling. This mark is 
about six inches long, by an inch and a half in width. 

It is to be observed, in regard to the streaks alongside of the vulva, that when 
they occur in a Cow of an inferior Order, such as they are described to be in the 
Cow of the First Order ; in this case, whatever may be the inferiority of the Cow 
as to the quantity of her daily yield, she will continue to give her milk just as a 
Cow of the First Order would. That is to say, she will be just as long in going 
dry, after being got with calf, as a Cow of the First Order. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield four litres 
a day, and continue to give milk imtil they are two months gone with caLf. 

The escutcheon is smaller, lower down, and confined to the inner surface of 
the thighs. The longer and broader the streaks of ascending hair (F F) on the 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



right and left of the vulva, and the coarser and more bristling the hair, the worse 
the Cow will prove in regard to the time she will continue to give milk after be- 
ing got with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows, while at the hight of their flow, yield three 
litres a day, and continue to give milk until one month gone with calf. 

The escutcheon is still smaller than the last. The signs (F) of early drying 
up are the same as in the foregoing Order. 

Eighth Order. — These Cows yield, during the hight of their flow, two litres 
a day, and go dry upon being got with calf. 

The escutcheon is so hid away between the thighs as to fee barely perceptible. 
Some coarse bristling hairs (F), which grow awry, are seen pointing toward the 
vulva. 



TABLE VIII CLASS 8. 

W^c j^ori^ontal Cut CTotD. 

Order 2d. Ord«r 3d. 



Order 4th. 




Order Sth. 



O.-der 6th. 



Order 7th. 



Order 8th. 





COW OF MEDIUM EIGHT. 

First Order. — These Cows yield, while at the hight of their flow, nine litres 
la day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months gone with calf. 

Second Order. — These Cows yield eight litres a day, and continue to give 
jmilk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield seven litres a day, and continue to give milk 
luntil five months gone with calf. 

(10'27) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



Fourth Order.— These Cows yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until four months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order.— These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order.— These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until two months gone with calf. 

Seventh Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until one month gone with calf. 

Eighth Order.— These Cows yield two litres a day, and cease to give milk 
upon being got with calf. 

LOW COW. 

First Order. — The Cows of this Order and Size, while at the hight of their 
flow, yield six litres a day, and continue to give milk until they are eight months 
gone with calf. 

Second Order.— These Cows yield five litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until seven months gone with calf. 

Third Order. — These Cows yield four litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until five months gone with calf. 

Fourth Order. — These Cows yield three litres a day, and continue to give 
milk until four months gone with calf. 

Fifth Order. — These Cows yield two litres a day, and continue to give milk 
until three months gone with calf. 

Sixth Order. — These Cows yield one litre a day, and continue to give milk 
until two months gone with calf. 

Seventh and Eighth Orders. — These Cows yield still less, and go dry upon 
being got v/ith calf. 

BASTARD OF THE HORIZONTAL CUT COW. 

The Bastards of this Class have no escutcheon whatever. The entire space 
from the vulva to the udder, and on the inner surface of the thighs, is covered 
with hair growing downward ; no growth of ascending hair is to be found upon 
the parts where the escutcheon occurs in the other Classes, and in the Genuine 
Cow of this Class. 

Some of these Bastards are excellent milkers, so long as they are not impreg- 
nated ; but so soon as they are got with calf, or a very short time afterward, they 
go dry. Those in whom the hair on the inner surface of the thighs is thick and 
very fine, will be found to give good rich milk. The reverse holds in regard to 
the quality of the milk yielded by those in whom these parts are covered with a 
scanty growth of coarse hair. 



BASTARD BULLS. 

Having attached to the portion of the work appropriated to each Class a de- 
scription of the Bastard Cow belonging to it, I must indicate here the signs by 
which a Bastard Bull is to be known. 

Bulls have escutcheons of the same shapes as those of the Cows ; only, as I 
have already said, on a smaller scale. The growth of ascending hair whieh 
forms the escutcheon extends from the testicles upward, spreading on the inner 

(1028) 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



side of the thighs. Now, whenever streaks of descending hair occur in this field 
of ascending hair, giving rise to lines of bristling hairs, this is to be looked upon 
as an indication of imperfection or bastardy; and the indication will be certain, in 
proportion to the size and extent of these blemishes in the escutcheon. Those 
Bulls in which they do not occur, and whose escutcheons, at the same time that 
they are free from these streaks, ascend high up, and are well developed and de- 
fined ; every such Bull is to be deemed genuine, and may be relied upon for the 
reproduction of animals of the highest order. 



TABLE IX. 
2ri)e Sastarb (torn of tl)c several itlasscs. 

Ist Class. Ist Class. 3d Class. 3d Class. 

Bastard Flanders Cow. Bastard Flanders Cow. Bastard Selvage Cow. Bastard Curveline Cow. 




4t{i Class. 5th Class. 6th Class. 7th Class. 

Bastard Blcorn Cow, Bastard Pemijohn Cow. Bast'd Sq. Scutch. Cow. Bast. Limousine Cow. 




TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



TABLE 



SHOWING THE YIELD OF THE 



Class. 

L Flandebs Cow. 

Order I. II. III. IV. 

High.. ..20 18 16 14 

Medium. 16 14 12 10 

Low 12 10 8 6 

2. Selvage Cow. 
High.... 18 16 14 12 
Medium. 14 13 11 10 
Low.... 10 8 6 4 

3. CURVSI,I?«T3 Cow. 

High.... 18 16 14 12 

Medium. 18 13 11 9 

Low.... 12 10 8 6 

4. BiCOKN Cow. 
High.... 16 14 12 10 
Medium. 14 12 10 8 
Low.... 11 7 5 



V. VL Vn.VIII.j»c? 
12 9 6 4.. 20 21 



SEVERAL ORDERS OF EACH CLASS. 
Class. 

~ 5. Demijohn Cow. 

O Order I. II. IIL IV. 

2 High.... 16 14 12 10 

2.. Medium. 14 12 10 8 6 5 

1..18 19 1 Low. ...10 8 6i 5 4 3 

6. Squabe-Scutcheon Cow. 
Hi0h....l6 14 12 10 8 fi 

Medium. 12 10 8 6 4} 3t 
7^ Low.... 9 8 6 4i 3i 2i 

7. Limousine Cow. 
7 5 3..14 14 7 High. ...14 12 10 8 6i 5 
5i 3K 2.. Medium. 11 9 7^ 5i 4 3 
4 3 2..13 13 6J Low.... 8 7 6 5 4 3 

8. HoKizoNTAL Cut Cow. 
6 High.... 12 10 8 6 5 4 

Medium. 9 8 7 6 5 4 
5i Low 6 5 4 3 



4. .16 17 
3.. 
1..15 15 



6 4 3.. 12 12 

4 3 2}. 

3 2 li. 11 11 



V. VI. viLvin.j § § 

8 6 4 2..10 10 5 



9 9 4i 



2.. 8 8 4 
i- 



2.. 6 
2.. 
1.. 5 

2.. 4 
2.. 



7 3i 
6 3 
5 ^ 

4 2 



2 llesathanl.3 3 LJ 



SKELETON OF THE OX. 




20 21 



1. The temporal bone. 

2. The frontal bone, or bone of the forehead. 

3. The orbit of the eye. 

4. The lachrymal bone. 

5. The malar, or cheek bone. 

6. The upper jaw-bone. 

7. The nasal bone, or bone of the noae. 

8. The nippers, found on the lower jaw alone. 

9. The eight true ribs. 

10. The humerus, or lower bone of the shoulder. 

11. The steruHm. 

12. The ulna, its upper part forming the eixDW. 

13. The ulna. 

14. The radiue, or principal bone of the arm. 

15. The small bones of the knee. 

16. The lari;e metacarpal, or shank bone. 

17. The bilurcation at the pasterns, and the two 

larger pasterns to each foot. 

18. The sessamoid bones. 

19. The bifurcation of the pasterns. 

20. The lower jaw and the grinders. 

21. The vertebree, or bones of the neck. 
38. The navicular bones. 

23. The two-coffin bones to each foot 
34. The two smiiller pasterns to each foot 
25. The smaller or spUnt-bone. 



26. The false ribs, with their cartilages. 

27. The patella, or bone of the knee. 

28. The small bones of tlie hock. 

29. ITie metatarsals, or largex bones of the bind leg. 

30. The pasterns and feet, 

31. The small bones of the hock. 

32. The point of the hock. 

33. TTie tibia, or proper leg-boae. 

34. The thigh-bone. 

35. The bones of the tail. 

^7 > The haunch and pelria. 

38. The sacrum. 

39. The bones of the loins. 

40. The bones of the back. 

41. The ligament of the neck and its attachments. 
4-3. The scapula, or shoulder-blade. 

43. The bones of the back. 

44. The ligament of the neck, 

45. The dentata. 

46. The atlas. 

47. The occipital bone, deeply depressed below the 

crest, or ridge of the head. 

48. The pai-ietal bone, low in the temporal fossa. 

49. The horna, being processes or continuations of 

the frontal bone. 




IP 



TREATISE 



ON 



MILCH COWS 



WHEREBY 

THE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF MILK 

IICH ANY COW WILL GIVE MAY BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED BY OBSERVING NATURAL 
MARKS OR EXTERNAL INDICATIONS ALONE; THE LENGTH OF TIME 
SHE WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE MILK, &c. 

By M. FRANCIS GUENON, 

OF LIBOURNE, FRANCE. 

TRANSLATED FOR THE FARMERS' LIBRARY, FROM THE FRENCH, 
,^ By N. p. TRIST, ESQ. 

^ LATE UNITED STATES CONSUL AT HAVANA. 






WITH INTRODUCTORY 

REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS, 



ON THE 



COW AND THE DAIRY. 




By JOHN S. SKINNER, 

EDITOR OF THE FARMERS' LIBRARY. 



ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. 



• NEW-YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY GREELEY & McELRATH, 

TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, NASSAU-STR,EET. 
• 1846. 





* , 



GREAT BOOK FOR FARMERS! 

LET EVERY FARMER IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE A COPY! 

Let every Farmer in the United States subscribe for a Copy for his Son. It may prove of 

more value to him than a Horse, or even a Farm I 

THE TARMERS' LIBRARY 

AND 

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGEICULTURE. 

JOHN S. SKINNER, Editor. 



Each number consists of two distinct parts, 
viz: 

I. The Farmers' Library, in which are 
published continuously the best Standard 
Works on Agriculture, embracing those which, 
by their cost or the language in which they are 
written, would otherwise seem beyond the reacli 
of nearly all American Farmers. In this way 
we give for two or three dollars the choicest 
European treatises and researches in Agricul- 
ture, costing ten times as much in the original 
editions, not easily obtained at any price, and 
virtually out of the reach of men who live by 
following the plow. The works published in 
the Library will form a complete series, explor- 
ing and exhibiting the whole field of Natural 
Science, and developing the rich treasures 
which Chemistry, Geology, and Mechanics 
have jielded and may j-ield to lighten the la- 
bors and swell the harvests of the intelligent 
husbandman. 

II. The Monthly Jqurnai, of Agricul- 
TrRE will likewise contain about 50 pages per 
month, and wall comprise, 1. Foreign: Selec- 
tions from the higher class of British, French 
and German periodicals devoted to Agriculture, 
with extracts from new books which may not 
be published in the Librarj', &c. &c. 2. Ameri- 
can : Editorials, communicated and selected 
accounts of experiments, improved processes, 
discoveries in Agriculture, new implements, 
&c. iScc. In this department alone will ours re- 
semble a»y American work ever yet published. 
It can hardly be necessarj' to add that no Politi- 
cal, Economic, or otlier contrewerted doctrine, 
will be inculcated through this magazine. 

Each number of the Library is illustrated by 
numerous Eaigravings, printed on type obtained 
expressly for this work, and on good paper — 
the whole got up as such a work should be. 

This Jlonthly, which is by far the amplest and 
most comprehensive Agricultural periodical ever es- 
tablished in America, was commenced in the month 
of July, 1845, and before the close of the first j'ear 
among its subscribers were embraced many of the 
most intelligent fanners, professional men, and re- 
tired gentlemen in every City and State i» the Union 
The reprint of standard works and the variety, ele- 
gance and costliness of the Engravings will always, 
render this one of the most useful and interesting, 
and, in view of the amount of reading matter, the 
cheapest Farming periodical in this or any other 



country. The beautiful work of Petzholdt on Ag- 
Eictn-TOBAi, Chemistry was published complete in 
the first two numbers of the Fabmebs' Lmkary ; and 
the great work of Von Thaer on the Pkinciples 
OF Agrictji tube, translated by Wm. Shaw and 
CiTTHBEBT Johnson, with a Memoir op the Au- 
THOB, &c. was commenced m the number of the Li- 
BBABY for September, 1845, and will be completed 
entire, without abridgment, in the June number for 
1846. This justly celebrated work is alone worth the 
full subscription price of the Fabmebs' Libbaby, and 
yet it is not more than one-third of what each sub- : 
scriber to the Work receives for his subscription 
money. This work of Von Thaer was originally 
written and published in the German language, trans- 
lated and published in the French and afterward in 
the English language. It is pronounced by compe- 
tent judges to be the most finished AgriciJtural Book 
which has ever been written. The London edition 
is printed in two octavo volumes, and is sold at about 
$8 per copy. 

Von ThaSr was educated for a Physician, the prac- 
tice of which he relinquished for the more quiet and 
philosophical ptirsuits of Agriculrnre. Soon after he 
commenced farming he introduced such decided 
improvements upon his farm that his fame was soon 
known from one end ofEurope to the other. The most 
celebrated farmers of England, France, Denmark, 
Germany, &c. courted his friendship, and his writings 
were everywhere sought and stiidied. 

The following subjects are discussed in the work 
of Von Tlmit, and the manner of treating each sub- 
ject is original, philosophicaTand practical. 

Section I. The Fundamental Pbinciples : — A 
Sketch of Systematic Agriculture ; The Bases of the 
Science of Agriculture ; The Bases of Enterprise j 
Capital ; The Farm, and the Manner of taking Pos- 
session of it; Leasehold Estates ; Hereditary Leases. 

Sec IL The Economy, Organization and Di- 
rection OF AN AOBICtlLTUKAL ENTERPRISE : — I,a- 

borin General; Draught Labor ; Manual Labor; ITiR. 
Proper Method of keeping the Journals, Registers, and 
other Books connected with an Agiicultural Under- ; i 
taking ; Proportion of Manure to the Quantity of Fod- . 
der and the number of Cattle ; The various Systems 
of Cultivation ; Class 1 — The Cultivation of Corn — 
Alternate Cultivation — Alternate Rotations with Pas- 
turage — On the Succession of Crops — Alternate Cul- 
tivation, accompanied by a suitable Succession ot 
Crops and Pasturage — Alternate Cultivation, with 
Stall-Feedina; of she Cattle — Four Crop Divisions — ; 
Five Crop Divisions — Six Crop Divisions— Seven 
Crop Di\-i6i(ms — Eight Crop Divisions — Nine Crop 
Divisions — Ten, Crop Divisions — Eleven Crop Divis- 
ions — Twelve Crop Divisions — Twelve Crop Di\TS- 
iona — The Transition from one Rotation to anther. 

Sec. III. Agronomy ; or a Treatise on Tire 
Constituent Parts and Physical Properties of 
THE Soil, and the Best Method of AcQuiRiNa . 
A Knowledge of the Different Earths, and 
Ascertaining their Value: — Silica; Alumina: . 
Cby ; Lime ; Gypsum, or Sulphate of Lime ; MarlT ■ ,' 



Magnesia ; Iron ; Humus ; Peat ; The Different Spe- 
cies of Earths, their Value, Employment, and Proper- 
ties, in their Relations to the Constituent Parts of the 
Soil. 

Sec. IV. Agkicultube :— Part 1— On Manuring 
and Ameliorating the Soil: Vegetable Manures — 
Mineral Manures. Pai-t 2— On the Tillage of the 
Soil, or its Mechanical Amelioration ; Agricultural 
Implements; On Plowing; On Clearing Land; 
Hedges, Fences and Enclosures ; On the Draining of 
Land; On the Draining of various kinds of Marshes ; 
Irrigation ; On Eaithingand Warping; On the Man- 
agement of Meadow Land ; The Hay if ^rvest ; On 
the vaiious kinds of Pastures. 

Sec. V. On the Reproduction of Anima*. jnd 
Vegetable Substances : — Vegetable Reproduc- 
tion ; Wheat : Spring Wheat — Spelt — One-g:ft'ied 
Wheat (Ei7ikorn of the Germans.)— Smut, or Canes 
in Wheat (Brand) ;~Ryc,- Earloy : Common, or 
Small Quadrangular Barley — Two-rowed, Long- 
eared, or Large Fiat Barley — Siberian, or Quadran- 
gular Naked Barley — Naked Flat Barley — Six-rowed, 
or Winter Barley ; — Oata (Avena Saliva) ; Millet 
(Panicum) ; On the Cultivation of Grain in Rows, or 
with the Horse-hoe ; Leguminous Crops ; The Pea; 
The Lentil; Kidney-Beans, (Haricots) ; Beans fFicM 
Fobia) ; Vetches : Common Vetch ( Vetch. Sativa) ; 
Buckwheat (Polygomim Fngopyrum) ; Meslin — Mix- 
tures of Different Kinds of Grain ; Culture of Hoed 
or Weeded Crops ; Vegetables for the Market ; Oil- 
Plants ; Colza aud Rape (Autumnal Varieties) — 
Spring Colza, or Spring Rape — Mustard— Oily Rad- 
ish (Rojihanus Chinevsis Oleiferii.s) — Cultivated Gold 
of Pleasui-e (Myagruvi Sativum) — Common Poppy 



turc of which has been proposed for the sake of their 
Thread: Syrian Swallow Wort, or Virginian Silk 
(Asclepias Syriaca) — Common Nettle ("frtzca Dioi- 
ca>— Fullers' Teasle (Depsacus Fullorum) /—Color- 
ing-Plants : Dyers' Madder (Ruhia Tinctonim) — Dy- 
ers' Woad (Isatis Tin ctoria)— Dy era' Weld {Reseda 
Luteola) — Bastard Saffron {Cartkamns Tinctoriua); — 
The Hop; Tobacco; Chiccory; CaiTaway (Carum 
Carui) ; Common Fennel (Fteniculum Vnlgare) ; 
Anise (Pimpinelle Anisiim) ; Culture of Fodder- 
Plants: The Potato— The Field-Beet— The Turnip 
{Brassica iZapa)— Turnips which will not bear Trans- 
planting— Turnips 80 properly called — Turnips ad- 
mitting of Transplantation — The Turnip Cabbage — 
Common Red and White Cabbage (Brassica Olera- 
cea ; var. Capitata) — Can-ots — The Parsnip — Maize, 
or Indian Corn (Tea Mais) ; — Herbage Plants : Com- 
mon Pm-ple Clover (Trefolium Pratense, var. Sati- 
vum) — White, or Dutch C\ov cr {Trifolium Repens) — 
Strawbcriy Tiefoil {Trifolium Fragiferwm) — Lu- 
cerne {Medicago Sativa) — Sainfoin (Hcdisanim Ono- 
bryckis) — Yellow Sickle Medick (Medicago Falcata) 
— Black Medick or Nonsuch {Medicago Lv.pulina)— 
Com Spurry {Spergula Arvensis)—T'he "Tall-grow- 
ing Grasses — Ray Grass (Solium Perenne) — Common 
Oatlike Grass {Ave7ia Elatior) — Tall Fescue Grass 
(Fcstuca Elaiior)—Cock's-foot Grass {Dactylis Glom- 
erata) — Dog-tail Grass {Cynosums Cristatus) — Com- 
mon Cat's-tail or Timothy Grass {Pheleum Pratense) 
— Woolly Soft Grass (Holcus Sanatus) — Meadow 
Foxtail Grass (Alopecurus Pratensis) — Meadow 
Grass (Poa). 

Sec. VI. The Economy OF Live Stock:— Homed 
Cattle ; Breeding Cattle— Feeding of Cattle ;— The 



(Papavcr Somniferum); — Thread Plants: Flax — | Dairy : Cheese Making; — Fattening of Homed ea^ 
Hemp C Caw nail's Sativa); — Other Plants, the Cul- I tie; Swine; Sheep; Horses. 

SE^ The subscription price to the Farmers' Library and Monthly Journal of Agricul- 
TURF,, containing 2 vols, of 600 pages each, with numerous Engravings, is Five Dollars a year. 
Where five persons club together and send us $20, we send five copies. Payment is invanably 
required in advance. Money may be remitted through the Mail at our risk. The Bank notes of 
any State of specie paying Banks, are received at par. Address 

GREELEY & McELRATH, Publishers, Tribune Buildings, New- York. 

LECTURES TO FARMERS 

ON 

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 

By ALEXANDER PETZHOLDT. 

The taste for Scientific Agriculture in the United States has created a demand for the veiy in- 
formation which these Lectures supply. "The motive," says the author, "which has induced me 
to prepare such a Course of Lectures, is the complaint I have heard from many of you, that, be- 
ing unacrjuainted with the elements of Chemistry, you have found it difficult to understand the 
questions which are at the present moment so warmly discussed, respecting the theoiy and prac- 
tice of Agriculture." This work being less scientific and technical in its language than Liebig's 
work, is on that account better adapted for the use of general Farmers, and ought to be first read. 
The author in his Preface says that a " pentsal of this work with ordinary attention will furnish 
the necessary amount of chemical information for the purposes of the Fanner." 

Elements of which Plants are composed. Lecture 8: 
— Source of the Cai-bon of Plants — Whence do Plants 
derive their Carbon, from Humus? or the Carbonic 
Acid of the Atmosphere? Lecture 9: — The Oxj'gcn, 
Hydrogen, and Nitrogen of Plants — Source of these 
Elements of Plants, and of the .Sulphur and Phos- 
phoi-us. Lecture 10: — The Inorganic Constituents 
of Plants — Ashes. Lecture 11 : — The Ashes of Plants. 

Sec. III. Lecture 12 : — Fallow — Introduction 
the Practical Section of the Course — The Nature, 
Use, and Effects of Fallow. Lecture 13: Rotation of 
Crops. Lecture 14: — Manures — General Remarks 
upon Manxires and Manuring — Division of Manures 
into Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral Manures. Lec- 
ture 15 : — Vegetable Manure — Green Manure, Hu- 
mus, Ashes of Plants, Wood, &c. Lecture 16: — Ani- 
mal Manures — Fseces, Urine— their Origin— Dung, 
Poudrette, Bones, other Animal Manures — Urine, 
Guano, Salts of Ammonia. Lecture 17: — Mineral 
.Manures— Lime, Sulphuric Acid, Gypsum, various 
Salts, Marl, IiTigation. Lecture 18 : — Summary and 
Conclusion. 
Appendix : — Guano. Glossaby. 



CONTENTS. 

Infroductoi-y Remarks by the American Editor — 
Preface. 

Section T. Lecture 1: — Introduction — Genei-al 
View of the Subject. Lecture 2 :— The Atmosphere 
— Its Constituent Parts, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbonic 
Acid, Water, Ammonia — Properties of these sub- 
stances as they are found in the air. Lecture 3 : — 
The Atmosphere continued — Origin of its several 
Constituents — Substances accidentally mixed with 
the Atmosphere — Diffusion of Gases. Lecture 4 : — 
Water — Its Composition — Various Kinds of Water — 
Pure Water, Its Properties — Substances dissolved in 
Water — Amount of Salts in Water in Different Lo- 
calities. Lecture 5: — The Soil — How far Soil is es- 
sential to Plants — Origin of 4he Soil : its Constituents ; 
their Source — Disintegration and Decomposition of 
Rocks — Decay of Plants and Animals. Lecture 6 : — 
The Soil continued — Humus : its Natm-e and Proper- 
ties — Decay; Putiefaction ; Chaning — Foimation of 
Humus. 

Sec. II. LecUire 7 : — The Constituents of Plants — 
Recapitulation of the Six preceding Lectures — The 

1^=" The above valuable Farmers' Book is published entire in the July and August numbers 
of the Farmers' Library for 1845. These numbers may be purchased separately if any Farmer 
thinks he cannot afford to subscribe for the whole year. Price of single numbers 50 cents each, 



THE FARMERS' LIBRARY 



AND 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 

The first year of this great Agricnltural Periodical closes wi* the June number, 1846. The 
pages of the Library portion are occupied with Petzholdt's Agricultural Chemistry and Von 
Thaer's Principles of Agriculture. The pages of the Monthly Journal portion of the work are very 
diversified in their subjects. The following are some of the leadmg articles : 



No. I— (July).— Memoir of the late Stephen Van 
Rensselaer (roah n fine steel portrait) ; Deep Plow- 
jng—An Experiment illuslratlng its Effects ; British 
A^icultural Dissertations; Prize Essay on Farm 
Management, (with an engraved Plan for laying out a 
farm)'; Fall Plowing ; On the Value and the Progress 
of Agricultural Science, with Extracts — from J. S. 
Wadsworth ; The Poetry of Rural Life ; Claims of 
Aoriculture upon the Business Community ; Guano' 
— 'Recent Experiments in Marjland and Virginia; 
South-Down Sheep (with lithographic portraits) ; 
Letter fiom Hon. Andrew Stevenson of Virginia ; 
Southern Apiculture— Remarks of the Editor; The 
Silk Plant of Tripoli (with a lithogrsiphic illustration) 
—Letter from D. S. McCauley to Francis Markoe ; 
Culture of Silk in South Carolina ; A New Vegeta- 
ble (Kohl Rabi) and Now Grasses (Tussac Grass)— 
Recommended to be imported; Agricultural Ma- 
chines patented ; Effe>ts of Electricity on Vegetation; 
The Disease in Potatoes — Various Theories ; Notices 
of New Books ; Great Sale of Cattle at Albany ; 
Items, &c. 

No. II— (August).- Lady Suffolk (with a portrait) ; 
A Dissertation on Horse-Breeding, and on the Trot- 
ting Horses of the U. S. ; Obituarj' Notice of Gen. T. 
M. Forman, of Md. ; Turnip Culture in England ; 
Under-Draining; lirisation; Water-Meadows ; Ento- 
mologj' ; Canada Thistle (illustrated) ; Comparative 
Value of Different Kinds of Sheep for the New-York 
Farmer; On the Preservation of Health ; The Cause 
of Education; Agricultuial Associations and Science; 
Drainina-Tile; Lime as a Fertilizer ; XVIIIth Annual 
Fair of the American Institute ; New-York State Ag- 
ricultural Society Cattle Show at Utica; Good Signs 
for the South, &c. &c. 

No. Ill— (SEPTEMBERt.— Brief Sketch of the Quali- 
ties of the Short-Horned Bull (with a portrait) — On 
the Good and Bad Points of Cattle ; St. John's Day 
Rye and Lucenic ; N. Y. State Agricultural Fair : 
Sugar — its Culture and Manufacture ; Comparison of 
Guano wiih other Manures; Mismanagement of Sta- 
ble-Dung Manure ; Entomology ; Cheshire Cheese — 
A Prize EssTiy. by Henry White ; Silk Plant— Guono; 
Native or Wild Maize ; Thoughts on Trees and 
Flowers; The Clergy— their power to improve the 
Public Taste for Agriculture and Horticulture— Let- 
ter from Rev. J. O. Choules ; The Poetry of Rural 
Life ; Trials of Sulphuric Acid and Bones for IMmips; 
Use of Sulphuric Acid with Bones as Compost; Cot- 
ton Plant (illustrated), <ikc. &c. 

No. IV— (OcTOBEB). — Memoir of Liebig (with a 
portrait) ; The Sort of Information wanted at the 
South ; To Prevent Smut in Wheat ; Memoir of the 
Cotton Plant, bv W. B. Seabrook ; The Central or 
Red-Land Disui'ct of Virginia— Letter from Hon. W. 
L. Goggin ; Various Opinions on Soiling ; Principles 
to observe in the erection of Farm Houses ; Manage- 
ment of Farms — Mr Hammond's Farm ; Atmosphere 
of Stables ; Reflections on the Progress of Agi-icul- 
tural Improvement, and the Political and Moral In- 
fluence of Rural Life — Letter from Gen. Dearborn ; 
Progress of Agiicullural Improvement — Letter from 
Judge Pi-ost ; Improvement m the mode of attaching 
Horses to Wagons ; Parins; and Burning; The Cen- 
ter of Gravity (illustrated") ; A Review on the Past, 
Present, and Future State of the Wool Market ; List 
of Premiums awai-ded by the New-York State Agri- 
cultural Fair. &c &c. 

No. V — (NovEMBEa). — Memoir of Hon. Richard 
Peters of Pa. (with a portrait) ; Timisian Sheep (with 



portraits) ; History and Uses of the Cotton Plant ; 
Letter from Dr. J. Jolmson of S. C. on the Silk Plant ; 
Thoughts on Transplanting Trees ; Agricultural Ad- 
dress before the Queens Co. Ag. So. by J. S. Skin- 
ner; Guano as a Manure ; Liebig's Explanation of 
the Principles and use of Artificial Manures ; Wine 
Making, by Rev. S. Weller, witli Notes by S. Clark ; 
How to keep Farm Reeisterg ; Entomology ; Man- 
agement of Bees ; Sulphuric Acid and Bones; The 
Fair of the American Institute ; Sheep and Chest- 
nuts, &c. &c. 

No. VI — (December). — Poultry (with illustrations); 
Successful Experiments in Soiling; Agiicultural 
Pniducta of the United States and Great Brit-iin ; The 
Potato Murrain ; Consumption of Sugar in Europe 
and North America ; Wages and Condition of Wo- 
men and Children employed in the Agricultural La- 
bor in England ; History and use of the Cotton 
Plant (concluded; ; Woolgrowmg at the South ; On 
Breeding Horses ; Education in Virginia ; Potato 
Starch ; The Inclined Plane (with illustrations) ; Pea 
Culture in the South ; Societies for the Promotion 
of Agriculture, Horticulture, &c. ; Agricultural Pre- 
miums ; Sheep Husbandry ; Peters's Agiicultural 
Account Book ; Exposition of the Condition and Re- 
sources of Delaware, &c. 

No. VH — (January).— Fann Buildings (with illus- 
trations) ; Treatise on Milch Cows, whereby the 
Quantity and Quality of Milk which any Cow will 
give may be accurately determined (with numerous 
illustrations) — by M Fr. Gu6non : Maryland Farmers' 
Club on the Right Tack ; The Mode in which Lime 
Operates on Soil ; Poultry and Useful Recipes ; 
Thoughts on the Distribution of Labor ; Jerusalem 
Artichoke ; Cellars t$. Spring-Houses for Dairies ; 
Flax and Hemp Hu-sbandrj- ; One-Horse Carts (with 
illustrations) ; The Hydraulic Ram (with illustra- 
tions) ; Comparative Views of the Progress of Popu- 
lation in different Regions of the United States ; The 
Importance of Draining Land, &c. 

No. Vlll — (February). — Treatise on Milch Cows 
(with illustrations) — continued ; I'he Potato Disease; 
Characteristics of different Breeds of Horses — by Hon. 
Zadock Pratt ; On Fattening Cattle ; The Language 
of Birds — Character and Habits of the Whip-poor- 
will; The Importance of acquiring a Knowledge of 
the Natural Science ; " Lime Enricheth the Father 
but Impoverisheth the Son "; Capital needed for Ag- 
ricultural Improvement ; The Use of Salt to Man and 
Animals ; On the Curing of Provisions for the British 
Markets ; Sketch of Belgian Husbandry ; The Flower 
Garden, &c. &c. 

No. IX — (March). — Smithsonian Fund ; The Pro- 
per Position of Country Dwelling-Houses and Bams ; 
Raising Potatoes from Seed; Scheme of Reducing 
the Quantity of Cotton ; Southern Hemp, or Bear- 
Grass ; Insects Injurious to Vegetation ; importing 
Societies ; Treatise on Milch Cows — continued ; 
Quaker or Friends' Farming; Flooding Meadows ; 
The Shepherd's Dog, &c. &c. 

No. X — (Aprii,). — Guano — its Nature and Use — 
by Prof Hardy ; Prospects in Virainia for New Set- 
tlers; The Brcad-Fruit Tree (with illustrations) ; Su- 
gar, and its Effects on Man and Animals ; The Sci- 
ence of Botany and Horticulture ; Ammonia and 
Water in Guano ; General Treatment of Greenhouse 
Plants ; Effects of Drouth on Indian Com ; Philadel- 
phia Butter; Treatise on Milch Cows — concluded ; 
Labor and Machinery ; The Diseases of the Horse ; 
Insects most Injurious to Vegetables and Animals, &c. 



I^= Each year's Numbers contain two large octavo volumes of 600 pages each. All the Num- 
bers of the First year can still be purchased. The First Number of the Second year commences 
with July, 1846. GREELEY & McELRATH, Publiahers, Tribune Buildings. New- York. 



